From the Ashes
by Reese M
Summary: Inspired by a Tumblr post that asked, "What if Astra had founded the Legion instead of Mon-El?" This story attempts to answer that question while taking place in a world very similar to my other stories. This is a story about Astra In-Ze and her relationships, her life, and how she would affect the lives we're already familiar with if she were still alive.
1. Chapter 1

Back when I was planning out the chapter "Unexpected Reunions" for my Children of El fic, I came across a post from Captain-Avalance that posed the question, what if Astra had lived and been pulled into the 31st cen, and she was the one to form the Legion. I thought it sounded like a really interesting idea and started thinking about how that would affect the world I'd built. I had this great scene in my head for the UR chapter but chickened out of writing. The idea never left, it's been rattling around in my head for months. Finally, I've decided to see where this idea takes me. So this story will be a bit different and yet kind of familiar.

Hope you all enjoy!

This is a bit of a summary of the world I've built for those who haven't read my other Supergirl fics

* * *

 **Earth: ?**

In Kara's first year as Supergirl she was faced with the unimaginable. A group of militarized criminals whose leaders were hell bent on taking over the Earth. That wasn't the unimaginable part, the unimaginable part was the fact that their leader was Kara's aunt Astra. Kara had believed that her aunt had died along with everyone else she'd loved on Krypton, so it was more than a little jarring to not only find herself face to face with Astra again, but to be fighting against her. Kara had barely had time to process it all, hell she had barely had time to breath in that first year. If she wasn't facing off with Astra or her husband Non, she was fighting rouge Fort Rozz escapees, or Maxwell Lord, or hell even the American government in the form of General Sam Lane.

Kara loved her aunt and knew in her heart that if she could just have a little more time and a little space to breathe she could talk her aunt into switching sides. She believed wholeheartedly that there was good in Astra. She just needed the change to reach out and find it, to nurture and draw it out. But Kara never got the chance. Astra was killed. And after a momentary truce to honor Kryptonian funeral rites, Non tried to enslave the human race.

She ended up killing Non in battle and even though it was a line she never wanted to cross again, she couldn't bring herself to truly regret his death. Especially years later when she would discover one of his biggest secrets.

Shortly after Non's defeat Kara's life would take a turn for the better, but she would hit some bumps along the way. She would meet and become friends with Lena Luthor. Lena would become the only other person, along with Alex, that made Kara feel like Earth were truly her home. Lena would become her best friend, and she would become the Luthor's greatest champion. Kara would also stumble across Mon-El, a Daxamite playboy who would become a learning experience for her. Alex would later describe the romantic relationship Kara had with Mon-El as a dumpster fire. And while Kara Danvers was dealing with Cat Grant leaving her life on a daily basis, working under a cramugen of a editor as she learned to become a reporter, and dating Mon-El, Supergirl faced off against Lillian Luthor, Lena's adoptive mother, and her anti-alien terrorist group and an alien invasion led by her boyfriend's mother. Apparently Kara didn't do well with moms.

Following the invasion, Kara found herself dealing with a broken heart after sending Mon-El away. In time she realized her feelings had less to do with losing Mon-El as a boyfriend and more to do with not knowing if she'd sent him to his death in trying to save him. The guilt she'd felt had nearly ripped her apart, but Lena wasn't about to let that happen. Even when Alex had a hard time getting through to her, when she'd barely listen to J'onn or Eliza when they tried to help her out of her funk, Lena got through. Lena helped make her better. Lena, her best friend. Lena, the woman she was falling in love with.

Lena, who introduced her to Samantha Arias the woman who would be taking over the day to day at L-Corp after Lena had bought CatCo. Kara had instantly hit it off with Sam and it didn't take long at all for her to welcome Sam and her daughter Ruby into her circle of friends. Sam was brilliant and funny, and strong and a wonderful mother. Kara loved how much Sam loved Ruby and how Sam defended Lena just as passionately as she did. Sam had quickly become one of Kara's closest and dearest friends.

Sam was Reign. Reign, a genetically enhanced Kryptonian hell bent on watching the world burn. Before they knew Sam was Reign, Kara had nearly died at her hands. Before they knew Sam was Reign, nearly everyone was willing to do whatever it took to stop her.

While being Kryptonian meant Kara wasn't good enough for Mon-El, being human didn't seem to sour Rhea, Mon-El's mother, on Lena's worth. In fact Rhea seemed very fond of Lena, having gotten to know her while manipulating her into building a gateway that led to her armada invading Earth. Rhea was going to force Lena and Mon-El to marry and had even taken steps to produce an heir for them. Lena's son, Andrew, was the only thing that came from that plan. When Lena expressed concern to Sam about Andrew's safety, Reign went after those threats. And when it seemed as if Reign were about to start doing her worse, everyone Sam cared about was taken to her fortress, Ruby, Lena, Andrew, and Kara if she hadn't been recovering from Reign's beatdown of Supergirl.

In trying to find a way to defeat Reign, the truth about who she was came to light. It was Lena who told Kara Reign was Sam after having seeing her without her mask. It was a trip to Reign's fortress, and Kara's ability to interact with DNA encoded data crystals that hinted at there being a familial connection between herself and Reign. While Kara had been recovering from her injuries Lena had been spending a lot of time with the Alura AI and that led to the discovery of one of Alura's deepest secrets.

Astra and Non had had a child. A daughter that Astra believed to be dead. A daughter Non gave over to the Cult of Reign to be genetically altered and programmed into a world killer. If Kara had held any regrets about killing Non before, she no longer felt that way after finding out the truth. Non's desire for power had turned his daughter into a monster. Sam's love for her daughter helped Kara defeat Reign. When Reign tried to kill Ruby, Sam fought against her inner demon, giving Kara the chance to subdue her. Lena figured out how to eradicate Reign from Sam's DNA, and some unexpected visitors helped Lena see her plan through.

Word of Andrew's existence had reached the Daxamite survivors who'd fleed Earth after Lena set off the lead bomb. Wanting their prince for themselves they'd sent a bounty hunter named Lobo after him. Mon-El showed up with a woman named Imra Ardeen and a Brainiac of all people. They arrived in time to warn them about Lobo, giving them time to get a plan into place, a plan that hinged on Mon-El giving up any claim he had on his son, and Kara adopting him into the House of El. After Lobo's defeat and Andrew's safety ensured, the Legion, which is what they called themselves, stuck around so Brainy could help Lena save Sam.

Sam found herself dealing with a lot after waking up, so much in fact that she was totally overwhelmed. Leaving Ruby in Alex's care, Sam left to figure things out, to figure herself out, and deal with suddenly having superpowers.

Life went on for Kara and her loved ones. There were marriages and babies, villains to be fought, and heroes to be made. Their stories have already been told, or are being told as we speak, but as we all know one little difference, one little devance, and suddenly the story chances. On one Earth the lives of the Danvers, and the Luthors, and the Arias play out one way, but on another…

Well, let's just see shall we?


	2. Chapter 2

**Krypton: Fifteen Years Before it's Destruction**

Non was nameless, Houseless, but he was a good soldier who loved Krypton and served it's people faithfully, loyally. He was also very charming, and he had used that charm to pursue Astra and convince her father that while he was in fact House less, he was guilded. He wore the sigil of the Military guild as proudly as any member of a nobel house wore their family crests. It had not been an easy campaign to win. In Ze was notoriously protective of his twin daughters, his beautiful rare jewels, his heart and his soul, but Non succeeded in getting In to agree to the arrangement of the marriage between himself and Astra. And Astra couldn't have been more pleased by the match. Her father had not been the only Ze charmed by Non.

The Genesis Chamber however could not be charmed by Non. It had determined that Non and Astra were not genetically compatible and therefore they would not have offspring. Astra had been heartbroken over the news that she would not be granted the joys of a child. While she mourned her dreams of their future together Non began to whisper in her ear. It was the planet's dwindling resources and Council manipulations that were denying them the right to a child, not their incompatibility. If he had come from a noble house, like her pompous brother-in-law Zor, they would have been allowed to conceive a child. The planet was rotting from within and their leaders refused to do anything about it, refused to take off their blinders to the truth, to afraid of letting go of the status quo they clenched in their fists like a child clenching a blanket.

Slowly Astra began to see the truth behind her husband's words. With each passing year Krypton became weaker and weaker as it's resources were pillaged and plundered. What Astra did not agree with was Non's aggressive proposals on how to deal with what was happening. Astra had been raised to have faith in the ideals and principles that governed their society, to be brave in seeking change when it was needed, and to have patience when working towards that change. And since Astra was in command, since she was the general and Non merely one of her lieutenants, they did things her way.

It was as rare among the nobel houses as her own birth. Twins on Krypton were seen as a double blessing from Rao himself. So rare were twin births that the number of twins born in the last century could be counted on one hand. Natural, biological births however, especially among the guilds and the nobel houses, were not looked on with so much reverence and favor. Though they were known to happen more amongst the Houseless, those once called rankless in Krypton's past, they were known to happen from time to time in a noble house. Most notably the House of El. The paitrach of the House of El, Seg, was known for his detest of the Genesis Matrix despite the fact that his sons had been conceived and born from it. HIs wife's choice not his. When Astra discovered she was pregnant she was torn at first. It went against what was normal for their society, but it was the only way she would have a child of her own.

It was Alura, her beloved sister, who reassured Astra that this was a joyous occasion. Alura admitted to her sister that, "Zor and I will use the matrix if we must, but we would very much like to have our child this way. Imagine it, Azzy, a child with limitless possibilities? Zor and his brother believe that children born this was will have the kind of freedom and potential children of Krypton haven't had in millennia."

"You make it sound both terrifying and wondrous, Ally." Astra replied.

"Soon Zor and I will have our child, and our little ones will grow up together and be as close as we are." Alura said brightly as she held her sister in her arms. "It will be wonderful, Azzy. You'll see."

It would have been wonderful.

"Here." Non says softly as he hands Astra a ceramic mug. "Drink this. It will help."

Non had been so attentive during her pregnancy, even finding a Priestess with knowledge about biological birth. They had been giving her a special tea for months to help with the discomfort that came with pregnancy, so she didn't think twice about taking the mug from her husband and sipping at it's warm contacts. She frowned a bit as she looked at the dark liquid inside. The tea tasted a bit different, but a lot of things she was use to tasted strange these days.

Alura had been with her, much to Non's annoyance, when the first burst of pain hit her. It was unlike anything Astra had ever experienced before. As was the fear she felt with each bout of worsening pain. It was to soon. Zor had given her all the information he could regarding biological procreation, and with his and Jor's help they had calculated when the baby would come. They were still weeks away from that date. It was too soon.

Alura never left her side. It was her beloved twin who placed the tiny crying child in Astra's arms. A girl. A beautiful baby girl with a wisp of brown hair and brown eyes just like Astra. Her daughter, so tiny and fragile to behold, grasped Astra's finger tight as she held her against her chest. Astra knew in that moment that Alura had been right all those months ago. This tiny daughter of the House of Ze would be someone remarkable someday. Astra knew this without doubt because the baby was only minutes old and she was already someone remarkable to her.

Alura's presence had not come as a great surprise to Non. The bond between the In-Ze twins had proven most difficult to sever. He simply had to make sure that both sisters ingested the sleeping herb the High Priestess had given him. Once the twins were unconscious Non picked the child up from it's cradle. The child, his child, was wrapped in a blanket baring the sigil of the House of Ze. Astra's house. He was this child's father. It should be his sigil on her chest. And someday, it would be.

Non took the child out of Argo City, across the dark sands, towards the ruins of what was once Kandor City. The child whimpered and fussed at first, and then began to cry and wail the further they got from it's mother. Non looked down at it as he carried it into the dark fortress hidden in the blackened crater of the lost city. "Soon my child you will no longer be so weak and pathetic. Soon this world and countless others will kneel at your feet."

The dark High Priestess had once been a small child who'd been burned figuratively and literally by her faith in Rao. Cast from his light, thrown out into the darkness, near death and alone, she found a new path. Non approached the withered old woman and presented to her the child. The baby stopped crying as the High Priestess looked down into her face. "Yes. Yes. It will be made strong."

Non watched as the High Priestess handed the child to another woman in a black robe whose face was concealed by a hood. This figure held the child while another injected it with something, then placed it in a device that looked somewhat like the birthing chambers of the Genesis Chamber. He watched as the pod sealed itself once the child was placed inside and began to fill with fluid. "How long will this take?"

"As long as it needs too." The High Priestess replied. "Patience boy. In time your sacrifice will bare fruit."

"What happens then?" Non asked.

"We unleash it." The dark woman hisses. "And we rejoice in it's reign."

Astra didn't understand. She was fine before she fell asleep, the baby was fine. How could something have happened? How could her child have died? She was absolutely distraught, and in her grief she took out her anger on Alura. If only her sister hadn't fallen asleep as well. If Alura had just remained awake and watched over the fragile newborn perhaps her daughter would still be with her. It was a small fray in the bound between the In-Ze twins, but not enough to break it. Non used his wife's grief, her anger, her loss, to continue pushing her to his way of thinking.

Surprisingly it wasn't the loss of a child that would finally push Astra to give into Non's methods, but the birth of one that would do it. Alura's daughter. Astra's beloved niece. Kara Zor-El. Astra would do everything in her power and some things beyond her power, to save Krypton. Not for the child she lost, not for herself or Non, or Alura or the people of Krypton, but for Kara.

Anything for Kara.


	3. Chapter 3

Remember this world is slightly different from the world of Children of El, so while some things might appear the same, there are differences in this world

* * *

 **Earth: The 31st Century - 3036**

The air in the beautifully perfect manicured garden rippled and distorted for several seconds before the the bright flash of light deposited the two figures on the immaculate lawn. The taller of the two was an eighteen year old boy with short black hair and bright blue eyes. Those bright eyes darted around as if looking for something, danger, a location, the person beside him, or maybe all of that and everything in between. While his gaze remained alert he did relaxed a little when he saw the girl standing next to him. She was slightly shorter than he was, younger too at fifteen. Her hair was long, blonde and pulled back in a tight braid down her back. Her eyes were just as alert as she took in their surroundings but their color was different, her eyes were a sharp jade green. She relaxed at the sight of the boy, sighing a soft sigh of relief before instantly slamming her hands on her hips.

"Andrew!" Alexis yelled at her brother. "What the hell did you do?"

"I didn't do anything!" The boy replied while reaching up to rub the back of his neck. "At least I don't think I did."

Both teens were dressed in sleek black workout clothes that looked just shy of being somewhat militaristic. Alexis took a hand off her hip to poke her brother in his chest. "It had to be you because it wasn't me and there was no one else in the training room!"

"Still doesn't mean it was me." Andrew huffed while crossing his arms over his chest to hide the fact that he was rubbing where she had poked him.

Alexis narrowed her eyes at her brother and huffed at him before taking a few steps back to have a look around. They were in a garden of some kind. It kind of looked like one of those courtyard gardens museums have. Along with the flowers and bushes were stone benches and statues. From what Alexis could see from where they stood on the perfect green grass, they weren't anywhere familiar. "Where are we?"

"I have no idea." Andrew answered as he walked towards the path a few feet from where they stood. The path seemed to wind further into the garden no matter which way they walked. It looked in both directions but couldn't see where the path lead. He sighed softly.

Alexis lifted off the ground easily and flew straight up slowly, cautiously. It was a good thing that she didn't shoot up into the sky like she normally would have, because the garden seemed to be under some kind of domed force field. Reaching up, rather stupidly Andrew was sure to say, she pressed her hand against the force field. "Well shit." She said as she watched the ripple of energy spread out from where she touched it. Turning slowly for a full three-sixty view she was able to see that they appeared to be on a circular rooftop. The sliver of fear and uncertainty that Alexis had felt the moment she felt the odd sensation of the consuming light that brought them here was quickly growing. "Drew, we're on a roof, and there's a force field over it."

Andrew looked up at his sister and asked, "What do you see beyond the force field, Lex?"

Alexis had been too afraid to look past the force field. Clearly they were no longer in the training room in the sub basement of the DEO, and the gravity of the situation weighed heavy on her like a stone in her stomach. Biting her lip Alexis looked out past the forcefield and swallowed hard. The buildings beyond were strange in architecture and materials, so unlike anything she had ever seen before. Alexis' mind had been racing with possibilities and this one had been one of them but it had seemed so unlikely she hadn't given it more than a second's worth of thought.

"Lex?" Andrew called up. "What do you see?"

"I see L-Corp." Alexis replied, fixating on the one thing that did look familiar.

Andrew rolled his eyes. "Of course you do."

"It has a humunious L floating over it's roof." Alexis huffed at him. "It's hard to miss!"

Andrew's brow shot up. Then he launched himself into the air to join his sister. Taking in the view of the city beyond he hissed. "Shit."

"Yeah." Alexis replied. "I don't think we simply teleported some place else. I think we're some time else."

Andrew raised his hand to look at the ring on the middle finger of his right hand and sighed. The ring was gold with a gold L and shooting star on a black background. The ring had been left for him by his biological father and given to him on his sixteenth birthday by his mother. It's what allowed him to fly since flight wasn't one of his natural powers being half Daxamite, unlike his half Kryptonian sister. "My ring."

"What about your ring?" Alexis questioned with a frown, her sharp green eyes cutting back and forth between the ring and her brother's face.

Andrew looked up to meet his sister's gaze. "Cousin Clark said it had other features, that it did other things aside from giving me the ability to fly, that these other things didn't seem to be unlocked yet. He said as I got more comfortable with the ring, those features would open up to me."

"Was time travel one of those features?" Alexis asked, hands on her hips, not in a Supergirl power position, but more of a Lena what-have-you-two-done posture.

Andrew nodded. "It's how Mon-El and the others came to help with Lobo when I was a baby, and how Clark met the Legion as a teenager."

Alexis groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Time travel. Great. No way we're not getting grounded over this."

While Alexis grumbled Andrew took in more of the garden from their vantage point. He spotted several statues, but it was the largest one in the center of the garden that caught his attention. After getting his sister's attention the pair flew over to it and landed in front up of it. Andrew looked up in awe.

"Whoa." Alexis said softly as she took in the statue of Supergirl. "It's even bigger than the one Mom had erected on the waterfront."

Andrew noticed a small display beside the towering statue of Supergirl in her classic fists on hips pose, the gleaming marble representation of the woman who had raised him as her own son, who never once treated him any differently than his sister, her own blood child. Andrew reached out, waving a hand over the device and suddenly Supergirl's voice ran out.

"Now in each and every one of you there is a light, a spirit, that can not be snuffed out, that won't give up. I need your help. I need you to hope. Hope. That you will remember that you can all be heroes. Hope. That when faced with an enemy determined to destroy your spirit you will fight back and thrive. Hope. That the ones who once may have shunned you will in a moment of crisis, will come to your aide. Hope."

"That's part of Mama's Myriad speech." Alexis said softly. Turning to look at her brother, Alexis failed to mask the emotions she was feeling from him. She was scared, and uncertain, and finding this had allowed a certain unease to settle in her chest. "Drew, why does this feel like a memorial?"

"Because it is, Lex." Andrew said honestly as he looked into his sister's eyes. "We've come so far into the future, that she isn't here."

Alexis' eyes began to burn with budding tears. She was only fifteen. She didn't want to think about a world without her mothers in it. "Drew…"

"Shh." Andrew said suddenly. "Listen. Do you hear it?"

Alexis listened and nodded. "Three people, coming this way from the right."

"Be prepared for anything." Andrew said as they turned towards the approaching footsteps. "But try not to blast them until we known their intentions."

"Once." Alexis said with a huff. "I blasted you once and you shouldn't have snuck up on me dressed like a clown. You know I hate clowns."

Andrew smirked at his sister but any lightheartedness he might have felt melted away when the three people they'd hearded coming finally appeared. They were all wearing uniforms of sorts. The tall man with red hair wore a blue and white suit with lightning bolts across his chest. A speedster perhaps, like Uncle Berry? The man in the blue and black uniform was broad shouldered, massive in a linebacker kind of way, and had a much softer expression on his face than the redheaded man did. The only woman among them wore a white jumpsuit with a gold belt, and a white cape. She had long black hair and like the big guy, a warm expression.

"We don't get many flying teengers up here these days." The woman said by way of greeting. "Especially strange ones we don't know."

"Who are you kids and how did you get in here?" The redheaded man barked. Unlike the other two he didn't bother to hide the fact that he was in an offencive stance.

The big guy's bright eyes kept darting between the girl and the statue of Supergirl until he gasped softly. "Supergirl?"

"No, not quite, not yet anyway." Alexis replied when she realized he meant her. "I'm still in training and I'm not sixteen yet and they just won't budge on the whole sixteen thing."

Andrew dropped his voice so only his sister could hear him. "Lex. You're rambling."

"Oh, sorry." She replied sheepishly.

Turning back to the three adults Andrew said, "Look, we're not a threat or anything. We're actually here on accident." He made a fist and held it out to show them his ring. "I think I might have brought us here using this. Mon-El didn't really leave an instructional manual behind along with it."

"You know Valor?" The woman asked.

"Valor? If that's Mon-El's superhero name, then, well, I don't know him, know him." Andrew explained with a shrug of his shoulders. "I know of him, what with him being my father and all."

Three sets of eyes blinked in surprise before the redhead spoke up after the trio shared a concerning look. "We should take them to her, let her handle Mon-El's problems like she always does, if what the kid is saying it the truth."

"Really Garth?" The big guy said. "Now is not the time."

Garth, the redhead's name apparently, huffed as he crossed his arms over his chest and then turned to glare at the teens.

When the woman, who finally introduced herself as Phantom Girl, asked them to come with them Andrew and Alexis didn't put up a fight. They had heard the story of how Mon-El, Imra, and Brainy had come to help save Andrew as a baby from a space bounty hunter, and how Briany had helped their Mom implement her plan to cure their Aunt Sam from a biological tech virus. Clark had told them stories as well, about his friends in the future who worked together as heroes. They trusted the idea of the Legion, and until these people proved otherwise, they'd relay on that trust.

They were escorted into the building they'd been on top of and down several floors to a room that at first look rather stark and empty. It was brightly lit, all white with soft blues and crystal panels. They were asked to stand in the middle of the room and wait before being left alone.

"Lex." Andrew said softly as they both took in their new surroundings. He couldn't shake the feeling that this was some kind of interrogation room. The big guy, Bouncing Boy he said his name was, told them they were taking them to the leader of the Legion, their founder, and that she would figure this all out. "You ok?"

"I'm stranded in the future with no idea how we're getting home or what we're about to face. My stomach is in knots and I can't stop wishing Mama or Mom were with us." Alexis replied with brutal honesty. "So no, I am not ok."

Before Andrew could reassure his younger sister, or wonder about her very un-Luthor like burst of emotion, a male voice they hadn't heard before filled the room. "You, boy, you claim to be the son of Mon-El, is this true?"

"Yes." Andrew replied, searching for where they voice was coming from. "Mon-El of Daxam is my biological father."

"What is your name, boy?" The voice asked next.

"Andrew Luthor." Andrew answered.

There was a long pause before the voice spoke out again. "And you girl, do you claim to be Mon-El's off spring as well?"

Alexis snorted as she crossed her arms over her chest. "No, I'm not Mon-El's anything."

"Who is the boy to you then?" The voice asked next.

"He's my big brother." Alexis said proudly.

"But you just said you were not claiming to be an offspring of Mon-El." The voice replied.

"Not that it's any of your business." Alexis huffed as she narrowed her eyes to search out a point in which to glared at the unseen voice. In doing so she realized the room was lead lined. She couldn't see anything beyond the walls. "But if you must know, my brother and I, biologically share the same human mother. My other biological parent adopted Andrew when he was a baby, but none of that has ever mattered, cause he's just my brother. Period. End of story."

There was a another pause before a female voice asked, "What is your name, child?"

Alexis blinked before once again scanning the room. The voice seemed oddly familiar. Familiar enough that Alexis could detect amusement in it's tone. Familiar enough that without realizing it she relaxed, her arms falling to her side and her shoulder relaxed a little. "My human name is Alexis Luthor."

"Your human name, meaning you have a non-human name?" The female asked.

Alexis stood as tall as she could as she answered. "My name is Zee El, my brother is Dru El, and we are the children of Kara Zor-El of Krypton." Then she frowned a little and looked at Andrew with some concern. "And I'm not entirely sure why I said all of that so easily. Dru, we don't give people our Kryptonian names on a whim."

"It's the ring your standing in." A blue skinned man said as he walked into the room. Not only was his skin blue, but his hair was snow white and he had three glowing rings on his forehead. "It's technology based on a weapon used by a hero of your time. It uses various energy waves to compel you to speak only the truth."

Andrew blinked, looked down at the floor where he noticed for the first time the soft golden glow of lights in a circle around them, and then looked up at the blue skinned man and said, "She really doesn't consider the lasso a weapon, you know."

Before the blue man could reply Alexis gasped, covering her mouth in surprise. It wasn't the blue skinned man who surprised her, but the woman who stepped into the room behind a man wearing a black, grey and purple uniform. The woman was tall and wore a black bodysuit with silver accents, a silver belt that looked just like the one Supergirl wore, and a very familiar crest in silver on her chest. Alexis' eyes darted back and forth between the House of Ze crest, the woman's long chest hair with it's destivive white stripe, and the woman's golden hazel-brown eyes. "It can't be." Alexis said softly, her gaze finally settling on the women's all too familiar eyes. "It can't be you. You're dead."

"Oh." The woman said softly, her lips quirking into a soft smirk, but her eyes flickering with something else, hurt or pain perhaps? "That's an odd sense of deja vu."

Despite Andrew's hand on her arm to stop her Alexis moved closer towards the woman she had seen so many times in hologram form. Her voice was soft and uncertain as she said, "Aunt Astra?"

Astra In-Ze smiled a radiant smile. "So, you do know who I am."

"Of course we do." Andrew replied. He'd been just as shocked by the woman's appearance as his sister. They had each spent countless hours with the holograms of Alura and Astra learning everything there was to know about Krypton, and its culture, and the people who came before them. He stepped closer to his sister as he looked at the woman. "Which is why we know you can't really be our great aunt. She died before either of us were born."

"I did, yes." Astra said gently. "But my death wasn't an ending to my story, only to that particular chapter of it." Up close Astra could clearly see Kara in the girl, and not just in the physical features she shared with her mother, but in her bareing and the way she was looking at her. Kara had once looked at her like that, like she had found something precious that had once been lost. Astra had crushed that look by engaging in a fight with her niece. She wouldn't make the same mistakes twice. "Come little ones, I have much to explain while we wait for Mon-El's return."

"General, are you sure…" The man in black, grey, and purple spoke up.

Astra nodded and smiled warmly at the man. "I'm sure, Rokk." Turning to the blue skinned man she smiled and said, "Brainy, send word to Mon-El and Imra to return at once, and let me know when they've arrived."

Brainy nodded. "Of course, General." Then he turned to Andrew. "It is nice to see you again, Dru. Though you are much taller than the last time I saw you. You also have much better speech capabilities and motor function."

"Um." Andrew replied, rubbing his neck. "Yeah, that kind of happens when you grow up. You get bigger, and you learn to walk and talk."

"Yes of course." Brainy replied. "For us it has only been a year since we saw you as an infant on Earth. For you, it has clearly been much longer."

Alexis groaned softly. "Agh, time travel."

Astra took the two teens to her private office. Though she did not know the details of Kara's life following her 'death' she did know that Kara had had one, a good one, she had been reassured. It had just hurt her too much to seek out more than that. Once reaching her office she waved towards a large comfortable sofa, "Have a seat." She said warmly while walking over to a sideboard to make tea. "I know you must have a lot of questions, and have no idea where to even start in asking them. So I will simply tell you how I came to be alive and what I am doing here." She walked over to join them, setting the tea service between them and pouring as she said, "No one was more surprised by my return to life than I was…"


	4. Chapter 4

**Earth: 31st Century- 3021**

Her mind remained clouded even as her body healed and became stronger. Flashes of memory came in and out of focus like wisps of water vapor in the desert outside her grandfather's home in the plains of Rao. She remembers feeling anger, confusion, dread, and sorrow. She remembers a woman with short red hair, a worthy opponent, an even more worthy protector for her little one. "You love her." The woman says as the memory flashes in her now awake mind. "That's how I know your heart isn't in this." She remembers feeling defeated and helpless as the woman asks for her help, asks her to become the hero rather than the villain, to join sides with her little one. Perhaps things would have been different if it hadn't been the Martian who'd shown up in that moment, if it had been her little one to landed behind them. Perhaps in that moment if she had been able to look upon the face of her beloved niece, to be reminded of her once cherished sister, Astra would have chosen a different path.

She was too lost in the darkness. A darkness planted in her soul decades ago on a now dead planet. Slapping away the, what did humans call it, the olive branch, Alex Danvers offered her Astra accepted her fate when she attacked the Martian. The physical pain of the kryptonite sword was excruciating and yet the pain was almost welcoming. She had turned against, fought against, the very reason her heart had once beat, the only person who had brought her nothing but joy and happiness, the one person who still looked at her with untainted love in their eyes. "As your enemy." Her own voice rasped as she looked into those tear filled El blue eyes. No, her little one corrected, "As my family."

Tears burned at Astra's golden brown eyes so she closed them as tight as she could until the feeling pasted. She took deep breaths, and gripped the edge of the medical bed firmly until her emotions were under control. She opened her eyes at the sound of approaching footsteps. Three days ago Astra had awoken in a medical bay, one that looked as if it belonged on Krypton rather than Earth, but the way her body felt confirmed she was on Earth and that she was alive. The doctor had explained to her that several days before she regained full consciousness Astra had been found in her pod which seemed to have crash landed in the mountains. The doctor had asked her about the fresh scars on her chest and back, which caused Astra to run her fingers along the red welt between her breasts. When she didn't respond the doctor didn't push. He simply gave her a look that said he'd seen far to many scares like hers, and that he understood.

The footsteps grew closer and Astra tensed. She was expecting the DEO, or worse, that tiny little man who had tortured her in front of Kara. To torture your enemy was one thing, but to do it in front of her little one, that was unforgivable and General Lane had better hope their paths never crossed again. When the door opened and the doctor walked in with only his nurse, Astra did her best not to look to surprised. Perhaps they needed to release her before she could be taken into custody.

"There isn't much more we can do for you here Ms. Doe." The doctor said gently. Astra hadn't given her name so they'd taken to calling her Ms. Doe. She didn't understand why they insisted on calling her a female Earth deer, but honestly, humans were odd. "You've been released from the hospital." He held out a data chip of some kind. "These are your emergency refugee funds. They'll help get you through the next few days. There's a refugee center on Marsdin Street and Fifth. They have a room waiting for you. They'll help you get settled in here on Earth."

She was given a set of clothes and a pair of shoes, more information was added to her data chip, and then she was wished good luck and welcomed to Earth. Astra blinked as she stepped out into the bright sunlight outside the hospital. She was still feeling weak and unwell, and more than a little confused. Where was she? How was she even still alive? What in the name of Rao was going on? Nothing around her looked at all familiar, in fact the city she was in looked nothing like the human city she'd grown use too. The architecture of the buildings was vastly different, as were the vehicles, and the very clothes the people wore. Even the people themselves were different. Yes, the majority of the people she passed were human or could pass for human, but there were other races among them as well. She was pretty sure the yellow skinned male working the liquid stimulant cart was an Aellon.

Astra needed to figure out what was happening, where she was, what was going on with Non and his insane Myriad plan, and she needed to know that Kara was safe. Making her way across the street the cart and the Aellon, Astra marched up to him and was about to speak when he spoke first.

"Ahh." He rumbled in a low voice. "You look like the strong black type."

"I need information, Aellon, not your bitter liquid stimulant." Astra barked at him.

The Aellon chuckled. "You must be new to Earth. It's called coffee, and I'll have you know mine is the best around, you won't get no bitter crap from ol' Joe."

Astra growled softly in her throat. "Fine. If I purchase this, coffee, of yours, will you tell me where I can get the information I require?"

The Aellon poured coffee into a paper cup and put a lid and sleeve on the cup before handing it to Astra. "Coffee's on the house, kid. I remember what it felt like to be new to this mudball. Anything you need to know you can find at the library on Grant Avenue. Head four blocks north, then take a right at the old CatCo building. Head two blocks south after that and you can't miss it. It has two giant ass pink cats out front."

Astra blinked, startled by the kindness this man was showing her.

The Aellon laughed, only this time it was laced with the bitter tiredness of someone who'd seen and experienced too much. "Yeah kid, I get it, ain't been a whole lot of nice in the galaxy since those bastard ring jockeys got into it. You wanna pay me for the coffee and info? Pass on the nice, will ya? Stars know we could use it these days"

"Thank you." Astra said softly with an appreciative nod of her head. Then she began walking, thinking about everything the Aellon had said, and absentmindedly sipping the hot drink in her hand. Her body was so depleted of the energy the yellow sun gave it that the effects of the coffee were almost instantaneous. "Oh." She gasped softly and then smiled and hummed approvingly. "I think I like this, coffee."

No matter the planet, no matter the solar system, libraries were a universal concept. Access to them changed from place to place depending on the power structure, but the fundamentals were all the same. Astra walked in and looked around until she gathered her bearings. She watched as a human male walked up to a clear glass display on the wall and pressed his fingertip to it. A map of the building appeared as did words in the human language called English. Astra waited until the man left then walked over and touched the display. She gasped softly as the map appeared with words in Kryptonese. She jerked her hand away and looked around quickly to see if anyone saw. No one seemed to be paying her much attention. She had found this very odd when she'd first awakened. Her image had been all over this planet's media outlets, and yet no one seemed to know who she was.

After checking the map again quickly, Astra made her way to the section of the building where she could access the internet. She found a small private room with an interface and claimed it for her use. The first thing she looked up was the date. No. No, that couldn't be right. It was spring 2016, she remembered configuring Earth's calendar with Krypton's because she wanted to know when Kara's birthday would be on Earth. The date in the bottom corner of the news feed said it was June 1, 3021. A thousands years? How was that even possible? Astra sat back in her chair, her mind wheeling. She had so many questions and looking for the answer just seemed to create more questions. How was she alive? How had she come to be a thousand years into the future? What happened after she was killed? While her mind and heart raced the news feed continued to play in the background and she vaguely picks up on the presenter talking about a war, refugees, and lanterns?

"Unfortunately Saturn saw massive amounts of fighting and was left in devastation." The woman was saying as Astra reached out for the interface to begin another search. "Refugees from Titian, the hardest hit of Saturn's moons, continue to flock to Earth…"

The boy, Alura's nephew, Kal, Astra recalls reading something about his death while researching the planet she had found herself on after Fort Rozz was pulled from the Phantom Zone. A woman named, Lane, Astra growled softly in the back of her throat just thinking of that name, had written about it. Yes. The Death of Superman. It seemed that the last son of the House of El had been killed defeating a Kryptionain beast called Doomsday. Astra shuddered. She remembered studying about those science experiments from hell. They had given her nightmares as a child, nightmares soothed only when Alura would leave her own bed to snuggle close to Astra in hers. It was not surprising that the only way Kal could defeat it was to sacrifice himself to do it. However, Kal El was not dead. Superman was very much alive and active while she was facing off against Kara. How? Continuing her search she came across another article, again written by this Lois Lane, in which Superman speaks of his return. Superman explained that his body went into a kind of biological stasis, shutting down everything but the bare minimum brain activity needed to keep his mind intact. Then he goes on to say that the yellow sun energy stored in his cells began to slowly heal his injuries. It took far longer than it normally would have because his body was relying on just what was stored in him at the moment of his death, because he'd been buried in the ground, away from the sun.

Astra hummed. It could be possible that's what happened to her to some extent, but there had to be more to it. Kal had arrived on Earth as an infant, he had been exposed to Earth's yellow sun for more than two Earth decades. She had only been exposed to it for a year or so. Her body would not have had that kind of reserve. There had to be more to this, and she figured her pod would have more answers. The doctor had said she could claim her pod, that it had been, what was the word? Impounded? So Astra's next search was on how to retrieve it.

She saved the biggest question for last. The one where Astra feared the answer the most. What happened to Supergirl? Astra played the clip of Supergirl's Hope speech several times before moving on to discover that she had defeated Non. Pride welled in her chest. Her brave little one had done what Astra was so sure was impossible. She continued reading down the timeline. Supergirl defeats Daxam Invasion. What the hell were Daxamites doing on Earth? Supergirl suffers massive loss against Reign. Is the Girl of Steel still alive? Astra felt a tightness in her chest. Supergirl defeats the World Killers. Astra's blood turns cold in her veins. Why does that sound so familiar? Why did World Killers tickle something at the back of her mind? Supergirl becomes Superwoman, takes on protege, a new Supergirl is born.

Astra's heart soars. Does Kara have children? A daughter whom she passed on the mantel? Rao, she hopes so. Astra wanted nothing more than to know Kara had people around her who loved her.

Astra wants to know more, wants to know about Kara's life. She should search Kara Danvers and she's about to when she sees a recommended headline, Superwoman's Sacrifice Saves Us All. Astra's heart stops beating as she accesses the headline. Witnesses and survivors talk about seeing other Earths in the sky and how the ground beneath their feet shook as it spit open. Battles raged in nearly every city between heroes and the ones tearing the world apart. In National City where the fight was strongest, it's heroes set into motion their last resort. In the end Earth was saved, but it had cost them Superwoman. Astra watched the moving image of the not Kara Supergirl, battered, bloody, and bruised, her face hidden by a hood, as she carried Superwoman's body in her arms, only to fall to her knees in a silent scream of anguish.

"Kara. No." Astra said in a horse whisper as her eyes once again began to burn with the building up of tears. She bolted from the room, cutting the power just as a video of a dark haired girl in uniform much like Kara's only her top was red and her skirt was blue, stepped up to a podium to speak, the headline beneath her reading, A New Supergirl Rises. Astra was devastated as she fled the library, fighting against her desire to sob, holding her hand against her mouth to keep the wail of pain burning in her chest from passing between her lips. She had thought, had hoped, she would get to see Kara again. Surly under Earth's yellow sun Kryptonians would practically be immortal wouldn't they? But now that hope was gone, crushed by what she had learned. Kara was gone, and she would never get the chance to make amends.

It was dark out when Astra finally checked into the alien refugee shelter. She was so emotionally drained and physically tired that when they asked her name she answered, "Astra."

"Do you have any other names?" The woman had asked. "A surname, or family name, or clan name, or…"

"No." Astra replied. She did of course, she was Astra In-Ze, but she had done nothing but let her family down. She was banished from Krypton a criminal, she was banished from Earth a criminal. No, she had no right to use the name or claim a place in the House of Ze. The woman simply smiled at her and nodded. Then showed her to a small room with a comfortable bed and small private bathroom. She was told that meals were communal and a great way to save the limited funds given to her thanks to a grant program from L-Corp. There were clean pajamas in her room and after a long hot shower Astra collapsed on her bed and fell into a fitful sleep.

The next day she went in search of her pod. Now more than ever she needed to know why she was here, why she was still alive when Kara wasn't. Why in the name of Rao was she speared! Her pod was in a warehouse and the young man showing her the way to it, keeps calling it an escape pod. Astra considers telling him it's a casket, a burial pod, but she doesn't.

"You know, my brother-in-law, he's a bit of a amatuer historian." The young man said. "He thinks this symbol used to mean something."

The young man's eyes were fixed on the House of Ze crest on the pod. Astra tensed. Still no one had recognized her, and she was fine with that. It meant she had not made it into Earth's history. Good. It would be easier to do whatever it was she was going to do, once she figured out what that was, as long as no one knew she'd been a villain. "It's the letter Q." She told him. It wasn't a lie, her family crest looked very much like the letter Q. "If you'll excuse me?"

"Yes of course." The young man said. "You sure you don't want to keep it?"

"I am sure." Astra replied. "I just need to retrieve the stored data and then you can dispose of it."

"I've already added the funds to your chip." He told her. "So, you're all set. Just let me know when you go."

Astra nodded. She waited until she was alone to access the pod's systems and made sure to remove the digital engraving of her house crest before finishing up. These pods were meant for the dead. Facet Jens, Fort Rozz's warden, would jetisin the dead out into space. If you'd been a model prisoner she would allow the pod's automated homing program to take you back to your home planet, if you'd been a pain in her ass she used your pod for target practice. It order for the return home to happen the pod needed sensors and some navigation capability. According to this pod's logs it was knocked off course and instead of taking Astra out into deep space, it took her towards the sun. That must have been what allowed her to heal. Then before she could be over exposed or pulled into the sun all together, an anomaly of some kind opened up and pulled her pod into it. That must have been how she ended up here. The strange anomaly must have pulled her through time somehow.

At least that had answered some of her more practical questions. It still left her with some much bigger ones. Why had her life been spared? Why was she being given a second chance? What was her purpose without Kara? Without Non? Without a mission or a vision, or any of reasons she threw it all way for? Alura. Kara. Her honor. Her House. All lost to her and for what? To save Krypton? To save Earth? In their final weeks together Astra had begun to see the truth. Non was not the man she thought he was. He did not want to save worlds, he wanted to rule them. He was a man who came from nothing, driven mad by his thirst for power. Not that she was laying all her mistakes at Non's feet. She had allowed herself to give in to her darker emotions, the rage, the anger, the grief, and she choose to punish the world, to make it hurt the way she did.

Now what was she to do?

Astra returned to the shetler just in time for the evening meal. She didn't much feel like eating but her body physical demanded food. After getting what she wanted she began to look for a place in the dining area where she could sit and be alone. She spotted a place on the far side of the room and began making her way towards it. As she passed a small round table she noticed a very large, very ugly, very mean sounding alien she was unfamiliar with leaning over the table.

"You don't want that now do ya sweetness." The large ugly alien said, his voice low and gravely. His large mit of hand was outstretched, reaching for something on a food tray.

It wasn't until Astra was several steps away that she could see who the beast was looming over. Two small girls with dark hair, pale skin, and utter fear etched on their faces looked up at the looming idiot. Astra quickly changed directions, making her way over to the girls and the big ugly alien. "Take food from that child's tray and I will take your hand from your arm."

When the big ugly alien stood to his full height he was easily nine feet tall. "Mind your own business, woman."

Astra set her tray down but palmed her fork. "Leave these children eat in piece"

"Or you'll do what?" The ugly one said.

Over the last couple of days Astra could feel her body recharging, could feel her powers returning, but the last thing she wanted to do was show anyone she had powers. Besides, she didn't need powers to defeat this overgrown oaf. She had been trained by the very best the Military Guild had, she was a master at countless number of fighting styles and techniques. She had moves a Zod would be impressed by. Moves that had the big idiot asking her for mercy, a fork pressed to his jugular, and promising to leave the kids alone. Once he limped out of the room like a chastised child, Astra sat across from the actual children. "Are you two alright?"

The older looking of the two girls nodded with wide eyes. "Yes, we're fine, thank you."

The girl had an accent Astra was unfamiliar with. "Why are you here alone? Where are your parents?"

That caused the younger of the two to start to cry. The older one quickly gathered the younger one into her arms and began to sooth her. Once the young one was calmer the older one looked at Astra and answered, "They didn't make it off Titan."

"I'm so sorry." Astra said in a soft regret filled whisper. She quickly offered the younger one the cookie off her own tray. Sweet treats normally worked when Kara was making that face as a small child.

The younger girl looked to the older one as if asking if it was ok to take the cookie. The older one nodded. Then she looked at Astra and said, "Thank you."

Astra's lips ticked as if she were going to smile.

The younger girl nibbled at the cookie and then smiled. She leaned closer to the older girl and spoke in an alien language Astra assumed was the native language used on Saturn's largest moon. Then the older girl looked at Astra and said, "She really likes the strip in your hair."

Astra laughed for the first time in a long time. "Thank you."

"My name is Imra." The older girl said softly. "And this is my sister, Preya."

"It's nice to meet you Imra and Preya." Astra replied. "I am Astra."


	5. Chapter 5

**Earth: 31st Century-3027**

There was a large memorial dedicated to all the heroes of National City's past in Luthor Park. It was a large black granite wall that curved around a reflecting pool, with a huge silver embossed House of El crest in the center of it. On either side of the crest were mounted tattered representations of several capes, and under each a tall white candle burned at all times. The memorial attracted a lot of attention from tourists looking for photo ops, pilgrims seeking some kind of enlightenment perhaps, and refugees looking for a sign that things will get better. It truly meant a lot to a lot of people. But it wasn't the memorial Astra prefered. During her first weeks here in this time, she had wandered National City as if seeking something out. Her mind and her heart constantly fixated on finding answers to the lingering questions of why was she here and what was her purpose? One late summer afternoon Astra had found herself walking along the waterfront, lost in her thoughts and her grief, and the uncomfortable uncertainty she felt about her new life. From the moment of her conception within the Genesis Chamber she had had a purpose. Now she was lost, unmoored and drifting like one of those sea vessels out on the water. Astra didn't think she could feel much lower.

That's when she found it. The weathered old statue of Supergirl in flight. The marker read, "The Girl of Steel." and that it had been commissioned and dedicated by Lena Luthor in 2017. "To the Girl of Steel," Astra had read aloud. "Our inspiration to be kind, to be caring, to be stronger, to be better." Astra had taken a few steps back so she could look up at the weathered face of her immortalized niece, and had once again felt the burn of tears. She groaned and berated herself as she wiped away the wetness from her cheeks. "What do I do, little one?" She had asked the statue. "What do I do with this empty life Rao has given me?"

Twice the answers came to her in the presence of that old statue.

Moments after uttering those words aloud Astra had heard a panic filled sequel following by frightening yells of a familiar name. "Preya! Preya!"

Astra had rushed to the sound of the girl's voice to find Imra leaning over the giant cast iron chains that looped through short stone pillars to rope off the water. The girl had her arm outstretched as she cried out and was about to fall in when Astra snatched her up. Huge brown eyes looked at her in shock, unfocused and unseeing as the girl thrashed against her. When Imra finally realized who had hold of her she cried out, "Astra! My sister! Preya fell into the water! She wanted to see the ships and fell into the water!"

"Stay here." Astra commanded the girl as she set her on her feet. "I mean it Imra, don't move. I'll get Preya."

It had been the first time she'd used her powers since arriving in this new century. Astra had flown up and over the barrier and hovered for just a moment to listen and to look beneath the water's surface, before driving in. Seconds later she flew out of the water with Preya in her arms. She had taken the girls to the hospital to make sure Preya was alright, and had demanded to know why the children didn't have someone looking after them, why they had been left alone to fend for themselves in the refugee shelter. She had been told that there were simply too many refugee children to find homes for, and that shelters were perfectly safe until either their families could be found or a placement could be made with a foster family. It was then that Astra made the first choice that would put her on the path to finding her purpose, the first reasons to live this new life well. "I will take care of these children."

War could bring out the very best in some people and the very worse in others. It had been a little over a year after taking in Imra and Preya that Astra had once again found herself at the statue of her niece. It had become a special place for her, a place that let her clear her mind to think, or center herself when she began to feel unsure of her choices, or where she went when she needed to be reminded that she could change for the better. It's where she realized she could do, should do, more. Other alien races had unique abilities, Imra for example had begun showing telekinetic abilities, but none of the alien races had powers like a Kryptonian on Earth. Powers Astra had used to secure medical supplies were delivered safely to the hospital after finding out from her doctor friend that an anti-alien, anti-refugee group had been destroying their shipments of alien specific medical supplies. Imra's emerging powers sometimes gave her massive migraines that required a pain reliever a little bit different than what she could get over the counter. Those pills had been on one of those shipments, and Astra wasn't about to let some human idiot keep Imra from getting the relief she needed on the days when her headaches were bad.

It started off with little things like the medical supplies, stopping an angry alien who had been attacking humans, and aiding first responders. Then it became increasingly bigger things like fighting a rouge Red Lantern and then laying into a Green Lantern for allowing their conflicts to repeatedly trample all over the rest of the universe. That's when the news broadcasts started to ask the question, "Does National City finally have a new hero to look up too?"

Astra had laughed at the idea. She wasn't a hero. She was just trying to make up for all her past mistakes. She was just trying to live a better life after being granted a second chance at it. But Imra and Preya disagreed, because to them she was a hero, and Imra wanted to be just like her and Supergirl. Imra begged Astra to teach her, to train her, and for a long time Astra had refused. But Imra was nothing if not persistent, and eventually she became Astra's first student.

Imra was smart and had taken a liking to learning about Earth culture and language. She had discovered that some words seemed to share meanings and even spellings across language barriers. Some words even shared links to languages not of this planet. For example the words tia or tante, meaning aunt, were very similar to the word used on Titian for any female caregiver who was not one's mother. So Imra and Preya took to calling Astra, "Tia?"

Astra looked up at Imra and smiled. Imra was fifteen now and had grown so much since their first meeting six years ago. She was slender, a bit petite but surprisingly muscular thanks to Astra's training. Her ebony hair was long which she normally wore down in soft waves, and her hazel eyes were bright as she smiled at Astra in a way that told the older woman the child wanted something.

"Are you busy?" Imra asked softly, her voice still accented from spending the first nine years of her life on Saturn's moon.

"Never to busy for you." Astra replied. "What do you want, Immy?"

Imra tried to look offending but failed. "Who said I wanted something?"

Astra chuckled. " Imra, I know you."

Imra just flashed Astra a huge smile. "I'd like you to meet someone, Tia." She walked to the front door of their small home and opened it, ushering in a young man. He was tall with short black hair and blueish gray eyes. Imra pulled the young man over to stand in front of Astra as she said, "Tia, this is Rokk Krinn. He's Braalian, and he has abilities too."

Astra looked the boy over and then crossed her arms and sat back in her chair as she glared softly at Imra. "And?"

"And," Imra said nervously. "He wants you to train him too."

Astra shot to her feet. "Absolutely not!"

"I can understand your reservations, Ms. Inzee." Rokk said gently but firmly. "Training Imra to defend herself because you care about her is far different than training someone you don't even know, but I want to help. The Lantern War has left lives on so many planets a complete mess. The governments are overwhelmed beyond belief, and there is only so much help places like L-Corp can offer. I'm tired of feeling helpless, I want to do something."

"Rokk's girlfriend was on that transport you stopped last month." Imra added in. "If not for what we did, what you did Tia, Lydda would have been shipped off to be sold into slavery or worse."

"I'm going to do this one way or another." Rokk said firmly. "With or without your help, but Imra seems to think it would be best if I did it with your help."

Astra stood there, arms still crossed, still staring at these unbelievable children completely gulled by their unreasonable request. Did they have any idea what they were asking of her? Do they not release how badly it went the last time she lead a group of powered aliens on Earth or angry, frightened Kryptonians on Krypton?

"You were a general once, Tia." Imra said as she walked over and put her hands on Astra's folded arms. "You know how to train…"

"Are you asking me to build an army, Imra?" Astra snapped at the girl.

"No!" Imra replied quickly. "Of course not! But in your stories about Supergirl, you said she didn't work alone, that she had a team to back her up. Things are just to broken for you to keep trying to patch it up on your own."

Astra growled softly in the back of her throat but slowly began to relax which made Imra smile. "Do not go looking all satisfied and hopeful, child. I am agreeing to nothing, however, I will think about what you've said."

Imra threw her arms around Astra's neck and hugged her tightly. "Someday Tia," Imra whispered in her ear. "You will see how wonderful you are."

"Only you and Jany think so, Immy." Astra replied as she hugged the girl back.

"Not for long." Imra promised. "Soon everyone will know and then you can no longer doubt it."

Finding herself once again at the Supergirl statue Astra did think about what Imra had said. She knew how badly the Earth, how badly the universe beyond Earth, needed help, but more than that they needed hope. The Lantern War had taken a great toll on every planet, every sector, every system it touched. Perhaps there was a way to help beyond what she'd been doing so far. "What would you do, little one?" Astra asked Kara as she looked up at the sun warmed metal statue. "What would Supergirl do?"

Astra had sat on the bench beneath the statue for hours before returning home. When she walked in the door she wasn't surprised to find Imra and Rokk waiting on her. She looked the teens over and sighed softly while pinching the bride of her nose. "I can't believe I'm doing this." She grumbled before looking at the pair. "Alright, Mr. Krinn, show me what you can do."

Rokk Krinn's abilities involved magnetism. It wasn't something Astra knew much about, but she did know how to train someone to their strengths. So Rokk, who would take on the name Cosmic Boy, became her second student after Imra, who decided she would be called Saturn Girl. Next would come Querl Dox, a young Coluan who had discovered what Astra was doing and decided he wanted to join her. Astra wasn't sure about Dox at first, especially since the boy insisted on being called Brainiac 5 because he was a descendant of the original Brainiac.

"You know a lot about me, Mr. Dox." Astra said as she glared at the blue skinned boy with the wild white hair. "So I'm assuming you know from which planet I hail."

Brainiac 5 nodded. "You are General Astra In-Ze from the planet Krypton. On Earth you are known as Astra Inzee, and you work for L-Corp's Refugee Program."

"Can you understand my hesitation about agreeing to your request to join us?" Astra asked next. They stood in the old warehouse Astra had been using to train Rokk and Imra in secret.

The boy nodded as he stood before her, his posture stiff and perfect, his hands clasped behind his back. He looked into her eyes as he spoke. "When the original Brainiac took the city of Kandor from Krypton it was the beginning of the end for your planet. As the inevitable end of your planet drew near you took a radical militaristic stance against the government in a vain attempt at saving it. Your efforts would not have changed the fate of Krypton, General. The damage had been done long before you even existed." Astra was about to reply but Brainiac 5 continued. "Your efforts here however will have higher degrees of success in helping and I want to be apart of that. I want to make up for the things my predecessors have done. I want to make amends for Kandor and all the cities like it. Surely you can understand that, General. After all, you yourself were once the villain, one of Supergirl's first."

Coluans were notoriously hard to read but there was just something about this boy, something earnest, and even familaur about his intentions. "I may be willing to consider your request, Mr. Dox, but first I must see for myself that you are what you say you are, and not a threat to me and mine. Consider yourself on a probationary status until I say otherwise."

Brainiac 5 nodded his understand. "Thank you, General. I will not let you down."

"You'd better not." Astra replied.

Slowly a team formed around Astra, and she would become teacher, mentor, and leader to a group of lost stray teenagers. Garth Ranzz, who would go by the name Lightning Lad, would join soon after Brainy. They along with Cosmic Boy and Saturn Girl would be the originals. Later, as the years went by and their reputation grew, others would join. Garth's twin sister Ayla would become Lightning Lass and Reep Daggle would join as Chameleon Boy. Chuck Tanie, who was sweet and nurturing, always making sure Astra was taking care of herself as well as them, would become Bouncing Boy. Luornu Durgo felt like karma for all the stunts she and Alura use to pull when they were kids. The girl could replicate herself and most of the time Astra felt like she had identical triplets running around. Phantom Girl, a Bgztlian named Tinya Wazzo, would round out the second group of teens.

"We need a name." Chuck said one morning over breakfast in the ramshackled ruins of the old building Astra had managed to buy. Her growing collection of stays had long since outgrown the old wearhouse.

"What do you mean a name?" Garth asked, looking up from his cereal.

"A team name." Chuck replied. "Something epic and bold, something that elects the kinds of emotions our mission statement stands for."

"We have a mission statement?" Luornu asked.

"Of course we do." Chuck replied. "To help keep the peace and to help those who need it no matter where or who they are. To give people hope that it will get better, and to give them strength to see them through the hard times, and help them believe in themselves."

"Wow." Garth replied. "That's a lot to take on. No pressure or anything."

Imra tilted her head a bit as she asked, "Where did you come up with that, Chuck?"

"I didn't come up with it, not really." The boy replied. "It's what Astra had been teaching us all along, isn't it?"

Imra smiled a huge proud smile as she nodded. "It is."

They all debated names for several minutes before Astra walked in just as Chuck offers up the name Superfriends. It's quickly shot down. She chuckles softly to herself and then remembers why she came. Something has crashed in the mountains, not far from where her pod had crashed so many years ago. "Imra, Chuck, Brainy, with me. Search and rescue, suit up."

"Yes General." The pair reply with grins as they jump from their seats.

Just before she leaves the others to finish their breakfasts and get on with their work assignments to help get this old building up and running as their new headquarters, Astra pauses in the doorway and says, "I've been calling us the Legion, I think it's fitting."

Grins appear on faces all over the room.

"The Legion." Brainy says with a nod.

"I like it, Tia." Imra adds.

"Guess we have a name then." Chuck says.

Astra smiled. "Come on let's go. We have work to do."


	6. Chapter 6

**Earth - 31st Century - 3036**

Mon-El had been more than a little surprised when he'd walked into Astra's office with Imra to find his grown son. He hadn't actually told Astra that he'd left a ring behind for the boy in hopes that something like this would happen, so when she gave him a slight glare he managed to look a bit sheepish. Out of all of her Legionnaires Astra was truly close to a handful, though she cared deeply about them all. Imra and Preya were the closest to her because they were like her own children since she'd raised them from the time they were nine and five years old. Brainy because his desire to prove his worth as a good person, as a hero, reminded her a lot of herself. And Mon-El, whom she'd had a very rocky start with for so many reasons.

They would need to send the children back soon but Astra agreed to allow Mon-El and Andrew some time together. The boy clearly wanted to get to know his father and Mon-El wanted to know his son. So she'd agreed to give them twenty four hours. After finishing some paperwork Astra headed up to the garden. Seeing Kara's children had shaken her and she needed time to deal with the days events. Years ago her favorite spot on the waterfront had been destroyed in a battle, so she'd had the garden on the roof built, not only to serve as a memorial for Supergirl, but for all of those who fell along the way. As she made her way along the path she was more than a little surprise to see Alexis in one of the open patches of grass. Not only was she surprised to see the girl, having assumed she'd gone with her brother and Mon-El, but she was also surprised by the familiar movements the girl was doing.

Astra watched the girl for several minutes before finally approaching her. "You know advanced level Klurkor?" She asked the girl, who suddenly stopped and turned to face her. "Your mother never knew more than the basics. Alura never wanted her to know more than the beginners level, who taught you that?"

Alexis smiled warmly at the woman. "You did of course. Klurkor, Torquasm Rao, Torquasm Vo, Horu-Kanu, I learned them all from you."

"Form me?" Astra replied, her eyes wide. "How, little one?"

"My mother's a genius." Alexis said with great pride. "She was able to unlock a lot of the secret files in the Alura living memory hologram, that combined with personal journals Mama found on a derelict Fort Rozz, and insight from other sources like the living memory recordings made by Seg El, and Mama's own memories of you, my Mom was able to create a hologram of you just like Grandmother's. You've been our teachers since I was little."

That both surprised Astra and warmed her heart. Kara not only allowed her children to know her, but to be taught by her likeness. She had gone out of her way to keep the Astra she remembered alive for her own children. "Would you mind showing me how well my hologram has done as a teacher?"

"I'd love too." Alexis said with a huge smile.

They spared in silence for a while, both of them measuring the other up a bit. Astra was quite impressed with the girl. It was clear in the way she moved, in the way she fought, that she didn't rely solely on her super abilities. That was good, that was smart, and even though it wasn't actually her giving the girl these lessons, Astra couldn't help but feel proud. Finally after a few more minutes of focusing on the physical, Astra asked her first question. "You didn't go with your brother and Mon-El?"

Alexis shook her head before dodging a blow. "Mon-El is his biological parent not mine. I figured I'd give them time alone. I'd rather stay here with you. I have questions."

Astra smiled warmly. "I suppose you do. Well, go ahead little one, ask them."

Nervously biting the corner of her lip was a habit Alexis had picked up from both of her mothers. She bit her lip for a moment before stopping the sparing so she could focus on Astra. A lot of what she wanted to know was pretty heavy stuff and they should probably focus on that. "I guess the most important thing I'd like to know is why, if your rings can time travel, did you never come back? Why didn't you come back and let Mama know you were alive? She misses you, and my Aunt Alex, I don't think she's ever really gotten over what happened. And why wouldn't you have come back after finding out about Sam?"

Those were indeed heavy questions. Truth was that Astra hadn't wanted to hurt Kara by telling her the truth. She had felt it was better if her niece had continued to think she were dead. As for Alex, Astra had a great deal of respect for her niece's adoptive human sister and it pained her to think that she was a lasting cause of emotional upset for the young Danvers woman. Unsure if she could properly say any of that to the girl in a way that she would understand, Astra decided to tackle what she assumed to be the easier topic of choice. "Who is Sam?"

Green eyes, an El with green eyes amused Astra greatly, went wide with surprise at Astra's words. "You don't know?" Astra shook her head, still looking confused or puzzled. "Oh, wow, I'd just assumed after they'd returned they would have told you."

"They?" Astra questioned. "You mean Mon-El, Imra and Brainy?"

Alexis nodded. Then she bit her lip again and started to nervously play with her fingers. Looking up at Astra she said, "So I've watched enough time travel science fiction to know that you can't tell me anything about the future because when I go back to my time I could end up changing something, but does that apply the other way around? Is it alright for me to tell you something about the past?"

Astra motioned towards a nearby bench where the pair could sit and talk while she spoke, "When Brainy first told me he'd included a time travel feature in the rings, I must have yelled at him for over an hour, asking him why he would include such a thing. Afterwards I knew there would need to be some major rules put into place and some adjustments made on the procall. For example, time travel is never done alone, which is why you got pulled here along with Andrew. Time travel is never done without permission and a game plan, and it's used pretty rarely. The events that happened regarding Andrew were special because they hadn't happened yet. We knew that Lobo was going after Andrew because he'd come after Mon-El first, so we didn't really need to worry about changing the past. We don't make a habit of changing the past, Alexis, we have enough to worry about in our present." Reaching out Astra cupped the girl's chin the way she use to hold Kara's chin when they spoke. "I can tell that whatever it is you want to tell me you think it's something important I should know."

"It is." Alexis replied. "Not just for you but for her too."

"Her too?" Astra replied. "Do you mean this Sam person you mentioned?"

Alexis nodded.

"Then by all means, little one, tell me." Astra said gently.

Alexis chewed her lip again. "It's going to hurt you."

Dear Rao, the child looked so much like Kara in that moment that Astra wanted to cry. She smiled instead, wanting to be reassuring. "I'm a hard biscuit, I can take it."

Alexis blinked and then relaxed with a soft chuckle. "You mean a tough cookie."

"All these years and Earth idioms still go over my head." Astra said with a gentle laugh and shake of her head. Again she smiled at the girl and caressed her cheek reassuringly. "Now, go on little one, what is it I should know?"

"Non lied to you." Alexis said without hesitation. "Your daughter wasn't too weak to survive, she didn't die the night of her birth, he stole her. Non took her to the Cult of Reign and she was kept in stasis while they experimented on her to give her superpowers on Krypton. Two of the cult members worked for my grandfather Zor, they knew the end was coming, and they knew what Zor and Jor were planning to do with their kids. They built their own escape pod and when the planet was about to explode they took the baby from status and put her in it, and sent her to Earth. You're daughter is alive, Aunt Astra, there's blood tests to prove it. Her name is Samantha Arias, she's married to my Aunt Alex and she has two daughters, Ruby and Maya, and when she's sad or frightened or lost she talks to your hologram, because sometimes a girl just needs her mom. I love my Aunt Sam, I think she's amazing and special, and I don't know, I just thought maybe, since you're alive, maybe she could get to know her mom for real. I was out here trying to clear my head because I was kind of mad at you. I couldn't understand why, if you were alive, you hadn't come for Aunt Sam, to meet her, but you didn't know, you needed to know."

Astra blinked. She was still processing everything the girl had just said. "Rao, you are your mother's child."

Alexis blushed. "Yeah, I get that a lot."

How did Alexis even know she had a child? Astra made Alura swear never to speak of it again. The girl had mentioned earlier that her mother had unlocked secret files on Alura's living memory banks, they must have discovered it there. The Cult of Reign? She had never put much stock into the whispers, but hadn't Non been assigned to look into reports about something strange and dark involving the old gods? Could Non have fallen in with them? Could he have done something as savage and cruel as sacrificing their child to them? There hadn't been a body, just a tiny urn filled with ashes. He'd said he wanted to spare her more grief. Then her mind flashed to what she knew of the past. "Reign. As in the world killer?"

"Non was plotting a coup." Alexis said softly. "Reign was meant to be his ultimate weapon."

Non had been looking for something on Earth before they'd come across Myriad. Could he have been looking for his ultimate weapon? He would never tell her what he was searching for, only that it would be their greatest asset, and that things would finally be set right.

"Aunt Astra." Alexis said softly and waited until the older woman looked at her. "I'm sorry I've caused you pain. I just really thought you should know the truth."

"You have given me a lot to think about, little one." Asta said reassuringly. "And even when it does cause pain, the truth is always best."

Alexis snorted softly. "You sound like my moms telling me that telling the truth will get me into less trouble. When it all goes down I'm still in trouble."

Still unable to face her past, even more so now that she knew of Samantha, Astra asks Brainy to remove her presence from the children's memories as they slept. Then she retreated to her living quarters until after the children were sent back to their time. She struggled with not wanting to believe what Alexis had told her, and knowing deep down it was possible. How different would her life had been if she'd gotten to raise her child, to watch her grow alongside Kara. She wondered, not for the first time to be totally honest, how she could have allowed herself to be taken in by Non and his charm and manipulations.

After the children were gone and she'd had time to think and sort through her thoughts and emotions Astra sent for Imra, Mon-El and Brainy. She sat quite stoically in her chair as the three stood before her. She could tell that Imra wanted to say something, she probably wanted to ask why she had Brainy remove her from the children's memory, but the look on Astra's face kept her words at bay. Finally Astra asked, "Why didn't any of you tell me that the woman Brainy helped Lena Luthor save was my daughter?"

Imra gasped. Mon-El looked just as surprised. Brainy stood there with his head slightly tilted to the left.

"Your daughter?" Imra repeated. "Reign was your daughter?"

"We didn't know, Astra." Mon-El reassured her. "If we'd know Sam was your daughter…"

"I knew." Brainy spoke up.

"What?" Mon-El replied, snapping his head to his left to look at his friend.

"I had access to Samantha Arias' personal files while I assisted Lena Luthor in extracting the Reign virus." Brainy explained. "I saw the lab results of the mitochondrial DNA tests that confirmed that Reign and Supergirl shared the same matrilineal bloodline."

"Briany, how could you!" Imra scolded, looking at him with disbelief. "Why would you keep something like that to yourself? Why would you lie to, Astra?"

"I did not lie." Brainy said, tilting his head slightly to the other side.

"A lie of omission is still a lie, Brainy." Mon-El said reproachfully. "You should have been upfront with that information. Astra had a right to know."

"After everything she's done for you." Imra said, angry on Astra's behalf. "Why would you keep something so important from her."

Brainly looked as uncomfortable as he could as his gaze shifted between his friends and mentor.

"Enough." Astra ordered. "Both of you, leave Brainy alone. I know his intentions were malicious."

"I never meant to cause anyone pain." Brainy said softly. "Quite the opposite in fact. Not only Astra's but Imra's as well."

Imra blinked. "Mine?"

"I calculated a very high chance that if Astra knew about Samantha's indentiny she would leave." Brainy explained. "And I could not bare… I did not want… I knew that that would cause Imra pain."

Mon-El crossed his arms. "Did you bother to calculate the odds of her returning?"

"No I did not." Brainy replied, dropping his gaze to the floor. When he felt a hand on his shoulder, Brainy looked up to find Astra standing before him. She squeezed his shoulder reassuringly.

"I'm not angry with you, Brainy." Astra told him. "Perhaps a little hurt." She said honestly. "But I'm not angry. And I would never abandon you." She took her hand from Brainy's shoulder to caress Imra's cheek. "Any of you."

Imra didn't leave after Astra dismissed them. Astra had given her and Preya a life after losing everything on Titan, their parents, their home, their planet. She had protected them, raised them as her own, loved them as her own, and now was Imra's chance to give something back to Astra. Walking up behind the older woman Imra spoke softly. "Tia?"

"Yes Immy?" Astra replied without looking away from the window and the city beyond.

"You should go meet her." Imra said firmly. "Your daughter, Samantha, you should go meet her."

"Immy." Astra sighed softly and let her head fall forward. "I can't. You know I can't."

"Because you're afraid?" Imra replied. "Ashamed? You don't think Kara's compassion would include you? Even now? Surely she knows everything Non did, how he used you, how he…"

"Imra." Astra warned gently.

Imra sighed softly and moved closer. "You have been a wonderful mother to me and Preya. I think Samantha deserves the chance to know you. Just think about it, Tia. Please."

"Perhaps." Astra replied softly. "But I make no promises."

Imra smirked and hugged Astra from behind. "Of course you don't, Tia."

"Try to sound less smug, child." Astra huffed. "It's annoying."


	7. Chapter 7

**Earth: 21st Century - 2018**

Standing off to the side just watching, Kara couldn't keep the smile off her face as she watched Lena work. Lena was standing beside Alex at the central command table working on blueprints. She was wearing a DEO issued black uniform with her long raven hair pulled back into a tight braid down her back. Lena had more than proved herself by saving Kara's and Sam's lives, and J'onn rather proudly asked her to join the DEO as a civilian consultant. As a thank you for believing in her, Lena had filled J'onn's office with an endless supply of Oreos. Lena was now J'onn's favorite.

Kara's attention was pulled from the pair at the command table by the soft quizzical sounds Winn was making at his computer. Kara was well aware that people liked to compare her to a golden retriever puppy, but she wasn't the only one with puppy like tendiances. Winn made soft puppy like sounds when perplexed by something. Walking over to her friend Kara stood behind Winn and looked over his shoulder at his monitor. "Anything interesting, Winn?"

"I don't know." Winn admitted. "Lena and I have been tinkering with the DEO satellites again, and I thought I'd picked something up but it happened so fast that I can't be sure if it was something or just a glitch."

"What kind of something?" Kara asked.

Winn shrugged. "If it turns out to be something I'll let you know."

Kara nodded, offered her friend an encouraging smile and then walked over to see what Alex and Lena were working on. Before Kara could get a look at the blueprint Lena was drawing up she was distracted by Alex's tablet. Picking it up she swiped through the photos and grainy video clips and frowned a little. The photos were of a tall woman wearing jeans and a leather jacket, her face obscured by a hoodie under the jacket. Following her release from the DEO once everyone was one hundred percent sure Sam wasn't affected by the Reign virus anymore, Sam had made the decision to leave Ruby with Alex and head out on a kind of sabbatical. She had so much to work through. Everything she had done as Reign weighed heavily on Sam, and her powers were a consistent remind of her actions. She was also dealing with the truth of who she was, who her biological parents were, what all of this meant to her life now.

"You're keeping tabs on Sam?" Kara asked as she looked up to meet Alex's gaze.

"I promised Ruby." Alex answered. "She doesn't sleep well if she doesn't know Sam's ok."

Kara had a feeling Ruby wasn't the only one who slept better knowing Sam was alright. Kara was fairly certain that her big sister was developing feelings for Sam. It was something she could wholeheartedly get behind because she had a feeling that Sam and Alex would make each other happy, and all Kara wanted for them was happiness and lives full of love. When Kara focused her attention on her sister again Alex was looking at her through narrowed eyes. "What?"

"Why did you just sigh like that?" Alex demanded, hand on her hip.

"Sigh like what?" Kara squeaked. Had she sighed? Glancing over at Lena and seeing the soft smirk on her lips told her she must have because Lena looked entirely too amused, like she knew exactly what Kara had been thinking.

Thankfully Winn's timing was perfect. "It wasn't a glitch! There is something out there!"

Alex glared at Kara for a second longer before turning her focus to Winn. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm pretty sure some kind of ship just crashed into the harbor." Winn said as his fingers flew over his keyboard. A moment later Lena was sat beside him, typing just as quickly.

Images and live video of the harbor appeared on the big screen but there was nothing to see. It looked like a normal sunny weekday morning on the waterfront. "Winn." Alex said sharply. "I'm not seeing a shipwreck."

"Because it isn't a sea vessel we're detecting." Lena said. A few more passes over her keyboard and Lena had an area circled on a map. "There. It's underwater."

As soon as they came out of the disruption something slammed into their ship, making entry into the Earth's atmosphere rocky. They managed to hold it together long enough to get through the upper layers but lost control in the troposphere. The force of hitting the water actually sent Astra tumbling out of her command chair. She hit the deck of the ship with a soft omf. The lighting flickered and dimmed as the ship continued to sink. Getting her bearings Astra looked around frantically, "Imra? Imra, are you alright?" There was a soft moan, and Astra rushed towards it. "Imra?"

"I'm alright." The young woman said as she slowly sat up. "I'm ok, Tia."

Astra reached for the girl's face and looked her over for herself. Once she was sure Imra was alright she helped the girl to her feet while calling out for the others. "Mon-El? Brainy?"

"We're ok." Mon-El replied.

Astra kept her arm around Imra's waist as they moved towards the front of the ship. Brainy was in the pilot's seat while Mon-El leaned over him. Relief washed over Astra at seeing they were all safe and sound. Giving Imra one last look over she let the girl go and stepped closer to her boys. Then she demanded, "What the hell happened, Brainy?"

"An unexpected anomaly." Brainy reported. He actually sounded insulted, as if the random space anomaly had been a personal attack on him and his twelfth level intellect. "It was not something I had accounted for."

"Losing your touch, Brainy?" Mon-El teased.

Brainy huffed. "Hardly."

"Maybe you should do something about us sinking?" Imra cut in.

As if her simply saying it made it happen, the ship stopped it's downward momentum.

"Well done, Brainy." Astra said.

The blue skinned man blinked. "That was not my doing, General."

"Then why did we stop?" Mon-El asked.

Imra made her way over to another control panel and was the one to respond by putting an outer view of the ship up on screen. Under the ship was Supergirl, her hands pressed against the hull. Then the ship started a slow accent upwards.

"Kara." Astra whispered softly at the sight of her niece. Her heart both constricted painfully and swelled with warmth. It had been over ten years since Astra had seen Kara. A decade of change and growth. A decade of trying to make up for everything she had done, of coming to terms with who she had been, what she had become, and who she now wanted to be. Astra felt her stomach tie up in knots. Would Kara be able to see the change? Or would she still be the overwhelming disappointment to Kara she had thought of herself as. Placing her hand on her stomach as if she could somehow slow the knotting nervousness growing there Astra asked, "Brainy, when exactly did you bring us back too?"

"2018." Brainy replied. "According to my calculations, this is when your odds of having a successful reunion with both Supergirl and Samantha Arias are at their most high."

Before Astra could say anything Imra spoke up, "Brainy, how long has it been for them since we were here?"

"Three months." Brainy answered.

The ship shook as it broke the surface of the water. They all watched as their view of the sea turned into a view of clear blue skies.

"Where is she taking us?" Astra asked.

"Most likely to a DEO safe zone." Mon-El replied. "She has no idea who's inside this ship so she's going to take it to a place that's safe to find out."

When Imra noticed the flat hand Astra had pressed against her stomach turn into a fist she walked over and put her own hand on Astra's shoulder. "Are you alright, Tia?"

Astra did her best to give the younger woman a reassuring smile. "I'll be fine, Immy. I would like a few moments alone before I throw myself into the lion's den. Would you mind greeting Supergirl for me?"

"Of course." Imra replied easily.

Reaching up Astra caressed her cheek and then moved towards the door to leave the bridge of the ship, but then she paused and turned back to look at her Legionnaires. "For them it has only been a few short years since they last saw me, a me that was their enemy. They'll have every right to be sceptical." She warned. "So don't be surprised if I'm arrested on sight, and if I am, please don't fight them. Do I make myself clear?"

The three of them nodded and spoke almost as one, "Yes General."

"Thank you." Astra said and then retreated to her quarters to prepare herself for this reunion.

Imra watched Astra go. For Brainy and Mon-El, Astra was their teacher, their mentor, their leader, but for Imra she was so much more. Astra had taken her and her sister in, cared for them, raised them, loved them. She knew of Astra's past, of the things she'd done and the reasons why, but that was not the woman she was now. And if Supergirl and her people refused to see it, well… "Is it done?"

Mon-El nodded as he stood at his wife's side. "Brainy linked her ring to yours before we left. If things go wrong all you have to do is give your ring a little nudge and the two of you will be taken home instantly. Brainy and I will follow in the ship as soon as we can."

"Good." Imra replied and then turned to look at Mon-El and smile. "Thank you."

"She means a lot to us too, Imra." Mon-El reassured before pulling her into his arms to hug her.

After gently placing the ship on the ground Kara flew over to stand beside her sister, J'onn, and Winn. They looked up at the ship with awe. It was unlike anything any of them had ever seen. The ship was sleek, white, with blue lights running along it's hull. It was fairly large, but not nearly as large as the Daxam ships. They all relaxed when they realized it wasn't a Daxam ship.

"Supergirl?" Alex said, the single word asking so many questions.

Kara shook her head. "I can't see threw the hull."

"Great." Alex grumbled. "I hate surprises."

"It's so beautiful." Winn whimpered beside her.

Alex rolled her eyes.

Kara smiled, she had to agree. The ship almost had a Kryptonian aesthetic to it, as if it had been influenced by Kryptonian design.

"So are we just going to stand here staring at it? Or is someone gonna go knock on the door?" Alex asked.

"No need to knock, Alex." Mon-El said as he and Imra appeared in a suddenly open door. "You're all welcome aboard."

The smile on Kara's face brightened at the sight of her friends. "Mon-El! Imra! What are you doing back here?" Then her smile faulted and she gasped softly. "What's happened? Is something wrong? Is Andrew…"

Mon-El held out his hand to stop her. "Andrew's fine, Kara. He's safe."

The last time Mon-El showed up it had been because his people had sent Lobo after Lena's son, the child Rhea had created using Mon-El's and Lena's DNA behind their backs. It had been an incredibly stressful and emotional experience for everyone concerned. Up until the moment Mon-El appeared out of nowhere Kara hadn't known if he were dead or live, and it had been a struggle for her to wrap her head around the fact that he'd been pulled into the future where he'd lived a life that included a wife. He had grown so much. He really wasn't the manchild she'd put in that pod to save him from the lead bomb, he was an actual man, a good man. Kara relaxed at his recurrence and gladly walked over to hug them both. "I'm glad to see you."

"We're glad to see you as well, Kara." Imra said with a warm smile as she returned the heroine's hug.

"So?" Kara said brightly. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, a couple of reasons actually." Imra replied. "One is this." She waved at the ship. "It's brand new and Brainy wanted to give it a test run."

"Brainy's here?" Winn said excitedly, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

Mon-El laughed. "Would you like to go inside and see him?"

Winn looked over at Alex as if asking his big sister for permission. "Plllleeeeeaaassssseeeee Alex!"

Alex looked to J'onn who gave a slight nod. "Yeah, sure, let's go see brain boy."

Once on board and after everyone had greeted Brainy warmly, he explained what had happened, how the ship had ended up crashing. He still sounded rather insulted that it had happened in the first place. J'onn promised they would help in anyway they could, though the ship was so advanced he wasn't sure what they could offer. Brainy was quick to reply.

"Ms. Luthor, perhaps?" Brainy said with a tick of a smile. "It would be of great help to have another high level intellect to lend a hand."

"I'll help!" Winn said giddily. He'd been freaking out over the ship since they set foot on it. He looked like a kid on Christmas morning looking at a living room full of presents to open, or like Kara when a new all you can eat buffet opened in town.

"I said a high level intellect." Brainy replied. "But I suppose you could be of some use as well."

Winn pouted. "Wait, are you saying Lena's smarter than me?"

"By magnitudes." Brainy replied.

Kara glared softly at the Coluan. While she considered Brainy a friend, she'd been a bit jealous of the way he fawned over Lena, like some lovesick fanboy. Nearly every word out of his mouth while helping Lena to execute her plan to save Sam, had caused Kara to grate her teeth. Deciding to change the subject Kara looks at Imra and Mon-El. "You mentioned other reasons for being here. Anything we can help with?"

Imra shared a look with Mon-El that only a married couple could share. He gave her a reassuring smile and then she turned to look at Kara. "The last time we were here we told you about the Legion, what we do and how we came to be, that you were our inspiration." She paused a moment, wanting to get the words right. "We let you assume it was Mol-El who brought us together, who led us, but only because we couldn't tell you who it really was."

"Kara." Mon-El said gently. "I wasn't the only one pulled into that distortion and pulled into the 31st century."

"Wait." Kara said as she looked between the two for several moments. There was just something about the way they looked at each other, at her, that suddenly had Kara feeling anxious. "What are you two trying to tell me?"

"Hello little one." Astra said softly from the doorway where she stood watching.

Every head in the room turned towards the sound of Astra's voice. J'onn instantly shifted into his natural green form. Alex drew her gun and aimed it at Astra. Imra and Mon-El moved to stand between them and their mentor. Kara just stood there staring, unable to comprehend what she was seeing. Astra? Astra was alive?

"Move!" Alex commanded of Mon-El and Imra.

Mon-El shook his head. "We're not going to let you attack her."

"She didn't come here to fight." Imra added. "She came to see her family, to see Kara, and meet her daughter, and granddaughter."

Sam. Sam could meet her mother, Kara thought. She took a step forward, ignoring the others, her focus still on Astra. "Aunt Astra?"

Astra simply smiled at Kara while walking over to Mon-El and Imra. She put her hands on each of their shoulders reassuringly. "What did I tell you both?" She said gently. "I don't want you fighting them over me."

"Tia." Imra said softly.

"Immy." Astra said fimly. Once both of her kids relaxed Astra stepped between them and in front of them. "Hello again Agent Danvers, Dictator J'onzz. It's been a very long time."

"Two years." Alex hissed. "You and Non tried to enslave the human race two years ago."

"It's been a little longer than that for me." Astra replied. "It's been about fifteen years since I crashed on Earth after my pod was pulled through the time distortion."

"Fifteen years?" Kara repeated. Her blue eyes never once leaving Astra as the older Kryptonian moved around the room. "Fifteen years and you're just now coming back?"

"Kara." Alex said crossly. "We don't know if this is really Astra and if it is we don't know she's telling us the truth."

"We haven't always had time travel." Astra said, looking over at her niece. "It was something Brainy slipped into the rings rather recently by our timeline." She paused, looked into Kara's eyes and sighed softly. "And, I was ashamed, little one."

"Clearly there is a lot going on right now." J'onn said as he shifted back into his human form. "I think we should take this back to the DEO."

"Of course." Astra said easily. "You'll want to verify who I am and decide what to do with me."

"I'm coming with you." Imra said firmly, staring at Alex and J'onn as if daring them to try anything against Astra.

"I wish I could…" Mon-El began.

Astra reached for his hand. "If the Daxamites of this era were to learn of your return they could take that as involvement in Dru's life. For his safety you must remain on the ship. I understand. Help Brainy with repairs." Turning to look at Brainy she said, "Don't argue with me. Let Mon-El help."

Brainy grumbled under his breath about not needing help though he wouldn't mind if it were Lena Luthor's help.

"Querl Dox." Astra scolded.

"Yes, of course, General, Mon-El's help would be most welcome." Brainy replied sheepishly.

Astra smiled and nodded her approval before looking at Kara, Alex and J'onn. "Shall we?"


	8. Chapter 8

**Earth: 21st Century - 2018**

Once they reached the DEO Astra did her best not to smile as she looked around. In her time they were currently in the midst of turning this whole block into Legion HQ. It was a bit strange seeing the building bustling with life and activity. When she'd come across the building it was an empty lifless shell, long since abandoned. As she was escorted up from the underground parking and into the upper levels of the building she couldn't help but comment on the change of local since her last stay with the DEO. "I must say this is an improvement over your last base of operations. That underground hole was a little Gothamy for my taste, complete with bats."

"A bat bit me once." Kara said without thinking. She was still a bit shell shocked over this whole thing. Astra was a live. Astra was alive and leading the Legion. She created the Legion! Her aunt had created a force for good in her name. Or so Imra was trying to convince them. Kara turned her head to look at Imra and wondered what it was between her and Astra. A flicker of jealousy fluttered in her stomach before quickly fading away. "Or at least it tried."

Astra had smiled at Kara's comment while Alex had shot her sister a look that said do not engage. Astra could only imagine what the human agent was feeling and thinking right now. The last time Astra had been in this place and time she had been a threat to not only Alex's world but to her sister. On top of that seeing Astra must have stirred up whatever emotions had come from her killing her. She wanted to say something to the young soldier but she wasn't really sure what that would be just yet.

As they passed through the command center J'onn called out, "Ms. Luthor."

Astra watched as a raven haired woman with familiar green eyes looked up from her work. Those were the same green eyes she had seen in the girl who would be Kara's daughter. The woman's pale face held a nearly perfect mask of professionalism. Except for the twitch of her eyes upon seeing Astra, and the slight flutter back and forth between looking at her and looking at Kara. The woman was concerned for Kara, so much so that Astra watched her body tense as if she would pounce like an attacking cat to protect Kara. Astra failed not to smile though she did manage to keep it a small smile.

"Lena." J'onn spoke again. "Brainiac 5 has requested your aid in repairing his ship."

That got a genuine smile from Lena as she turned her focus from Astra to J'onn. "Querl is here?"

The way the young woman said Brainy's name, with genuine like and excitement to see him, gained her another approval notch with Astra. Brainy wasn't always the easiest being to get along with. Being his friend could sometimes be an acquired taste.

J'onn nodded. "Agent Vasquez will take you to the landing site when you're ready."

Lena simply nodded and then returned her attention to Kara and by extension Astra. Lena had a million questions on the tip of her tongue, but they would have to wait. Vasquez appeared at her side as if J'onn had instantly summoned her just by saying her name. Lena shared a long look with Kara, wanting to make sure her girlfriend was alright. When Kara gave her a soft smile in response she nodded ever so slightly and then left with Vasquez.

J'onn, Alex, and Kara continued on to a conference room with Astra and Imra. They took up seats around the table and for several long moments they all just stared at each other. Finally Astra spoke up, "I suppose I should start by explaining how I am still alive."

"That would be helpful." Alex snarked.

Astra did not react to the girl's attitude. Alex was entitled to an attitude right now. Instead Astra simply began her tale. Every once in awhile Imra would interject, letting them all know that Astra had saved her and her sister's life, and making sure that Astra's deeds weren't undercut in any way.

"We knew coming here would be a risk for Astra." Imra said, her gentle voice taking on a firmness none of them remembered from the last time she'd been here. "So if you won't believe us then perhaps, Director J'onzz you'll believe yourself."

Astra quirked an eyebrow as she watched Imra pull out a data disk which she laid on the table. She blinked, surprised, as a message from a much older J'onn J'onzz began to play, reassuring his younger self that Astra could be trusted and that she was in fact a friend and ally.

"How do we know that's even real?" Alex asked skeptically.

"It is real, Alex." J'onn said as the message ended and he looked across the table at Astra.

"I don't expect you to trust or even like me, J'onn." Astra reassured the Martian. "For you it's only been a few years since our fight. The friendship you and I will have someday took a lot of work building trust in one another." She shifted her gaze from him to Imra and then back again. "To be honest with you I wasn't even aware Imra had that."

"I am the one who encouraged you to come here, Tia, to reconnect with your niece and to meet your daughter." Imra said softly. "I was not about to let you walk into danger to do so."

Alex was about to say something snide but Kara cut her off. "How do you know about Sam?"

Astra turned her attention to her niece and smiled. "I can't really explain without giving away hints about the future, but what I can say is that it came from someone I trust, someone I found really rather remarkable."

"How long have you known?" Kara asked next.

"A few weeks." Astra answered. She could see the hurt and confusion in Kara's eyes. "Coming here wasn't an easy decision for me, Kara. Like I said on the ship, I was ashamed. I was ashamed of what I tried to do here, what I had let myself become, of everything I did that turned me away from the people I loved, the people who mattered most to me. I allowed myself to get so twisted up inside that I drove Alura away, and I lost you." She paused for a moment before her voice could betray her feelings. "For the longest time I didn't believe I deserved to be in your life. You, my little one, are so pure of heart, that I knew deep down despite everything, in time, you would forgive me." She shook her head as she continued, "And I don't deserve your forgiveness." She sighed softly and gave Imra a look that said not to say a word. Imra was always the first to jump to her defense, even if the attack were coming from Astra herself.

"What changed your mind about coming here?" Kara asked gently.

"Partly, Imra." Astra answered. "She and Preya seem to think I'm worth having around, and apparently believe there is no limit on second chances." She paused to smile at the young woman beside her before once again looking across the table at Kara. "There was also something that happened a few weeks ago, again I can not give details, but it made me realize I couldn't continue to allow you all to think I was dead, that Agent Danvers had killed me." Astra turned her focus to the redhead, finally finding a few words she hoped would hold meaning. "You were protecting your mentor, a man you consider a father, your actions were honorable and just, Agent Danvers. You also love and adore Kara and despite your actions being just, I am Kara's aunt, and I could not allow your actions to continue haunting you. I could not continue to let you think you had hurt Kara by stopping me."

Alex wasn't sure what to say to that.

J'onn spoke up instead. He could not read a Kryptonian's mind, but he could read a person in other ways. For now, he wasn't seeing Astra as a threat. "How long do you plan on being here?"

"I'm not sure." Astra answered honestly. "Not permanently for certain. My life is back in the 31st with my Legionnaires."

"Then we'll keep this personal visit off the books." J'onn said as he stood. He looked down at their one time foe and warned, "Do not make me regret not arresting you on sight."

Astra watched as J'onn left the room and as Alex bolted to her feet to follow him. She was absolutely sure the redhead was trailing after him, asking if this was a good idea, asking if he'd lost his mind. Should they really just be letting Astra, a superpowered terrorist, roam around freely after everything she'd done? Could they, should they, truly believe her and the story she's told them? Astra knew it would take time to gain people's trust and to build and rebuild positive relationships. It would be hard work, she knew that, and she was up for it.

An awkward silence fell. Kara was looking at Astra with a mix of emotion that she felt was seconds away from overwhelming her. Astra was trying hard to hold any hope she wanted to feel at bay. She would not push Kara, she would not expect anything from her. When Kara stood up, Astra stood as well, and if it weren't for her enhanced sight she would have missed Kara closing the distance between them in superspeed. Astra's eyes flew open wide with shock when she felt Kara wrap her in a hug. Her body went stiff for a moment, unsure of what she was experiencing, but then slowly Astra brought her arms up to return the embrace. She sighed softly, her breath fluttering Kara's long blonde hair, and closed her eyes against the burning of tears. The last time she had held Kara in her arms like this had been on Krypton.

"I can see you again." Kara said softly into Astra's ear, her voice quivering with emotion. "When I look into your eyes, I can see you again, I can see my Aunt Astra again."

Astra choked back a sob. "I am so sorry, little one. I am so very sorry for everything."

They remained in their tight embrace, holding each other as if they were both afraid that if they let go one or the other would disappear, until Kara's phone dingged with a text message alert. She would have ignored it but it was the ding she had especially for Andrew's nanny. Pulling out of her aunt's arms slowly she reached up to wipe tears from her face as she said, "I have to get that. It's about my son." She smiled a bright smile while wiping away the rest of her tears. "I have a son now."

"Of course." Astra replied as she took a step back. She loved the look in Kara's eyes, the way she lit up as she told her about her son.

Kara picked up her phone and read the message. "I need to go. Andrew's nanny has an appointment this afternoon. I need to get home."

"Go, little one, go home to Dru." Astra said softly. "I'm not going anywhere."

"You know about Andrew?" Kara's eyes widened and so did her smile. Then she brightened even more. "Come with me? I want to know more, I want to know everything."

"I would like that." Astra agreed.

Imra was beaming, happy tears welling in her own eyes. "I'll head back to the ship."

"Are you sure you don't need to stick close for whatever emergency backup plan to save me from my past you and the boys have concocked?" Astra asked teasingly.

Imra simply smirked. She didn't need to be right beside Astra to use their rings to send them home. "No. I'm sure Kara can be trusted to keep you safe."

Kara wasn't sure how she felt about Imra and Astra. Grateful? Imra had given her aunt purpose, had helped to reawaken the good in her. Jealous? It was pretty clear they had a close relationship. It didn't slip past Kara that Imra called Astra aunt. Happy? Imra and her sister loved Astra, and had given Astra someone to love in return. Astra hadn't been alone. Angry? Why couldn't she have been the one to do that for her aunt?

"You're welcome to join us, Imra." Kara said politely.

Imra smiled. "Thank you, but this is your time with Astra. Besides, Brainy doesn't have the best social skills and I fear his lack of such skills will only be made worse by his crush on Lena."

"I knew it!" Kara huffed.

After Kara changed into her normal clothes and Astra into something a little more time appropriate they made their way to Lena's penthouse. There was something different about Kara, Astra noticed, and she had a feeling it had everything to do with Lena Luthor and her infant son. Astra smiled as she watched Kara's face light up as soon as she laid eyes on the dark haired little boy, and she took notice of the way he lit up at the sight of Kara. Of she knew that at some point Kara and Lena marry and have another child, but to see Kara, to see the love in her eyes, it made it so much more real. Kara was happy, she had found or was in the process of, finding her home again.

Once they were alone Kara walked over to Astra with Andrew on her hip and the biggest, brightest smile. "Aunt Astra, I'd like you to meet the newest son of El. Dru-El, this is your great aunt, Astra In-Ze."

Astra chuckled as she offered her hand to the boy only to have him reach for her. She was more than a little surprised. She looked at Kara who beamed at her and nodded. She took the boy from his adoptive mother and swallowed hard before laughing again. "Well, if you seeing me on the ship hadn't created a paradox this certainly has."

"What do you mean?" Kara asked.

"The moment you saw me alive a totally new timeline was created." Astra answered honestly. "It's another reason I struggled with coming here. Honestly this has all been incredibly selfish on my part. You knowing I'm alive, it's set into motion a whole new path for the future to take."

"Well." Kara said after thinking about what her aunt was saying. "I'm glad you're here so I guess I'm a little selfish too."

They talked for a long time. Well, Kara did most of the talking. Astra had to be mindful of what she said. She'd already caused a change to the timeline, she didn't want to do more damage. She liked the way Kara looked when she spoke of Lena. It was pretty evident that she loved the woman a great deal. "Ms. Luthor sounds a vast improvement over your last romantic encounter."

Kara went to reply but then stopped short and tilted her head to the side as she blinked once. "Before Lena I dated Mon-El."

"Yes." Astra replied. "I know. A Daxamite, Kara, really?"

Kara blinked again and then narrowed her eyes at Astra. "Wait, isn't Mon-El married to Imra? Do you not like him?"

Astra chuckled. "I'm teasing, Kara. Though, to be honest, at first I did not like him, and knowing he dated you only made it worse. It took me time to get past his Daxam-ness."

They talked until Lena came home. She was surprised to see Astra sitting on her living room couch, but only a little. Mon-El had filled her in as best he could, and she knew how much this all had to mean to Kara so she wanted to be supportive. After excusing herself to clean up and change she joined the two Kryptonians and her son.

"I'm not sure how long the repairs will take." Lena said to Astra while cuddling Andrew. "The parts and materials we need will be hard to come by."

"I have faith in the people working on the problem." Astra replied warmly.

Kara listened as Lena and Astra talked about the ship, and working with Brainy and soon her soft sighs were not so soft huffs.

Lena chuckled as she looked over at her girlfriend. She spoke in Kryptonese as they often did when alone in their home with just their son. "Green is not your color, beloved."

Kara crinkled her nose in a very adorable way.

Astra's eyes went wide. "Ms. Luthor, you speak Kryptonese?"

"Please call me Lena." Lena replied and then nodded. "And yes, I've been learning it for awhile now. I know my accent is horrible but…"

"It's better than Kal's." Kara cut in.

"It really isn't bad at all for a human." Astra said just as a wave of sadness washed over her. "You haven't learned Kryptonese just from Kara have you?"

Lena shook her head. "I've learning mostly from the Alura AI. How could you tell?"

"My sister had a particular way of saying certain sound combinations." Astra explained as fondness and love swirled with sadness, grief, longing and regret. "Our mother could always tell us apart because mothers can just do that, but our father, sometimes even he struggled when we would pretend to be the other. So he'd come up with a little phrase he would make us say so he could tell who was who because of the way Alura said some of the words." Astra paused, her mind traveling back in time, her heart contracting painfully in her chest at the memories. "My little gem, and my little star, do tell Papa which ones you are."

Kara escorted Astra back to the ship not long after. Astra was feeling incredibly overwhelmed, as was Kara for that matter. They both needed time to process and they knew that, but it didn't make letting go when they embraced goodnight any easier. "I promise I'm not going anywhere little one."

"I wish I had your spy beacon to give back to you." Kara said as she pulled out of the hug. "But I gave it to Sam before she left in case she needed me."

Her reunion with Kara had gone far better than Astra has expect, not that she should have ever doubted it. What would it be like to meet her own child for the first time since the night she'd been born and stolen from her arms? "I'm right here, little one. All you have to do is call out my name and I'll be there."

Kara smiled brightly. "Same goes for me." Throwing her arms around her aunt one more time Kara said, "I love you, Aunt Astra. I am so happy you're not dead."

Astra laughed as she returned the hug. "So am I, little one. I love you, Kara."


	9. Chapter 9

**Earth: 31st Century - 3030**

The small rescue ship landed several feet away from the crashed pod. When the door slid open Astra lead the way with her three teenage Legionnaires trailing behind her. She took to the air as soon as her boots touched soil and made her way over to the crash site. Smoke billowed up from the crater the small craft had made. She hovered at a safe distance and blew a strong breath to put out any fires and clear the smoke. She called out to Imra to raise the pod from the crater and set it down on even ground and then she landed beside the younger woman. Astra raised an eyebrow now that she could see the pod clearly. What in the name of Rao?

"That pod is Kryptonian." Astra said as they carefully drew closer to the battered and scorched silver one person pod with the distinctively designed fins.

Imra turned her head to look at Astra. "Do you think it's another of your kind?"

"Perhaps." Astra said but she doubted it. She stood back and allowed the young ones to handle the situation. Brainy focused on the pod while Chuck and Imra focused on the man inside. She watched as Imra used her powers to open the broken and shattered dome on the cockpit, and as Chuck approached the unconscious man with a med kit. As soon as the dome was removed the dark haired boy inside began to struggle for breath. Astra came closer and that's when she realized who he was. "He's a Daxamite." She told Chuck. "He'll die if you don't put a breathing mask on him now!" Once Chuck had a breathing mask on the boy she ordered, "Get him on the ship in a tank, quickly!"

The team worked swiftly to get the boy on their ship and into a medical stasis tank. Once he was secure Chuck and Brainy loaded his pod onto the ship. Once the man was stable in the pod, they set off for a medical center. Once they were on their way Imra went to tell Astra and found her standing in front of the boy's tank. "Tia?"

"What the hell was the Crown Prince of Daxam doing in a Kryptonian pod?" Astra asked as her golden brown eyes stared at the boy.

"You know him?" Imra asked.

Astra shook her head. "I knew of him. The Military Guild made sure to keep up to date with the Daxam royals. The Queen was a particularly nasty piece of work."

"Brainy is already working on the pod." Imra said as she turned her focus from Astra to the young man inside. "We'll know more soon. And the medical center is already on standby with the lead allergy cure."

Astra grumbled a bit but then said, "Well done."

When they reached the medical center the young man's pod was transferred to a treatment room where the cure could be administered. Astra told her doctor friend that the boy was a Daxamite, but struggled to recall his name. "Gand." She finally said after a few moments. "The family name was Gand."

Wanting to know more about what this Daxamite boy was doing in a Kryptonian pod, Astra asked Chuck to stick around and monitor the boy, warning him that Daxamites were a race of bullies and hedonist and to keep his guard up should the boy awaken before her return. Then she, Imra, and Brainy returned to their work-in-progress headquarters. While Brainy worked on gaining information from the pod, Astra turned to other sources. She read an article written by Kara about how the Daxamite queen, Rhea, had invaded Earth and how Supergirl and Lena Luthor stopped her and her invasion. Daxam had been left uninhabitable for decades following the destruction of Krypton, the boy must have escaped during the time of Krypton's death, but how was he in one of their pods?

When a cup of her favorite tea appeared in front of her Astra blinked and looked up to find Preya standing beside her and smiled. "Thank you, Preya."

"You look conflicted, Tia." The young teen said as she leaned against the edge of Astra's desk. "Is everything ok?"

Astra sipped her tea and sat back in her chair with a long sigh. She looked into the face of the child she had been raising since she was five years old and hand fallen into the water looking at ships. Preya and Imra, they saw her in a way so few had ever seen her. The only other person who had ever looked at her like that had been Kara. "I am trying my best, Preya, to be a better person for you and Imra, but sometimes that isn't easy. Sometimes old feelings are stirred up and I find myself thinking the way I use to think."

Preya nodded as if she could possibly understand. "Being a better person doesn't mean you have to completely change who you are or ignore the experiences of your past. If something about this boy from Daxam bothers you, there must be good reason, you have good instincts, Tia."

Astra smiled at the girl. "When did you get so smart?"

"If I'm not going to get powers like Imra then I need to be smart if I'm going to be apart of this team someday." Preya said with a warm hopeful smile.

When Brainy arrived with what he'd found in the pod's systems Astra could hardly believe it. It seemed the boy had been pulled through the same distortion that had brought her to the future. Brainy said the pod originated from 2017, during the expulsion of the Daxam invasion. Before that the pod shows, according to Brainy, some very interesting telemetry. The pod was flown from Krypton to Daxam, then from Daxam into space past the Well of Stars, were it ended up getting stuck.

"So much information." Brainy said with his version of excitement. "If I can unscramble the pod's data from that time, we'll be able to learn so much."

Once Astra was able to get Brainy back on track he told her that the pod was eventually able to break free and crash land on Earth, not to long after she'd departed Earth as a matter of fact. A Kryptonian pod crash lands on Earth following the defeat of Non. Kara would surely have looked into it. This boy could possibly have known her niece. Heading back to the medical center Astra checked in with the doctor. The lead allergy cure was working well. They had moved the boy from the medical tank to a bed. Astra ordered he be restrained. When asked if that was really necessary she reminded the doctor that the last time there was a Daxamite on Earth they tried to take it over.

The first thing Mon-El noticed after realizing he was still alive was that he was restrained. Instantly his fight or flight instincts kicked in and he began to struggle. He didn't even bother to take in his surroundings or take stock of his health, all he knew was that he was restrained and he needed not to be.

"The bands around wrists are power inhibitors." Astra said from where she'd stood watching the boy. "If you continue to struggle against the restraints you're going to end up hurting yourself, Prince Gand."

Mon-El stopped, his breath come in short huffs. Taking a moment he finally focused on himself, on how he felt, and sure enough he was powerless. Turning his head towards the direction he'd heard the woman's voice, he narrowed his eyes to see who had spoken to him. When he saw her, his eyes went wide and there was a soft intake of breath before he said, "Alura?"

Astra snorted softly as she stepped further out of the shadow in the corner of the room where she'd stood. Her hair was pulled back, making it a bit harder to see her distinctive white stripe until she was closer. "It has been a very, very, long time since someone mistook me for my sister."

"Astra." Mon-El growled and began to struggle again.

"Take it easy Daxamite Prince." Astra told the boy. "You really are going to end up hurting yourself."

"Where am I?" Mon-El demanded.

Astra looked into the boy's eyes as she spoke, trying to get a proper feel for him. How big of a threat was he? Was he a threat at all? She was trying so hard not to fall back on old viewpoints but it really wasn't easy. Old intelligence reports floated around in her memory. While the Daxam prince had never done anything wrong per say, he never really done anything at all but party and bed anything that moved. His father had been an apathetic king, but Rhea, she had always been a cause for concern. Was this boy more like his father or his mother? "Earth."

"Impossible." Mon-El replied, tugging at his restraints again. "The Earth's atmosphere is full of lead. I'd be dead if I were on Earth."

"You would be dead." Astra told him. "If there weren't a cure. I think the question you should really ask is when are you."

"When?" Mon-El repeated, a frightened and confused look passing quickly over his face. He stopped struggling and just stared at Astra with wide eyes.

"What's the last thing you remember?" Astra asked him. Mon-El wasn't very forthcoming. So Astra decided to just skip ahead. "Your stolen Kryptonian pod was pulled into a time distortion. You're currently in the 31st century."

Astra knew from experience that accepting the fact that you've been hurled through time a thousand years wasn't easy to wrap your head around. If this boy were anyone else she would have given him time to process, but she had questions and she wanted answers. "How did you end up in a Kryptonian pod, Daxamite?"

Mon-El was in shock. 31st Century? He was so focused on that bit of news that he was responding to Astra's questions before he could stop himself. "Supergirl." He replied. "She put me in the pod to save me from the lead bomb."

It was years of experience and training that kept Astra from reacting. It made sense that the DEO would have the pod following it's original crash to Earth. "Why would she do that? Your people were invading her adoptive world."

"That was my mother." Mon-El said, finally snapping out of his shock. "Not me, I had nothing to do with that!"

"Why should I believe you?" Astra asked, her voice firm and threatening.

Mon-El narrowed his eyes at her. "I'm not the bad guy in this room, General. How are you even here? Kara told me her aunt was dead."

"I got better." Astra replied with a smirk.

There was distrust on both sides. Mon-El was the Daxamite prince. The poster boy for everything Kryptonians saw wrong in the people of Daxam. Astra was the Kryptonian terrorist who had betrayed Kara. Astra would have been perfectly fine turning him over to the government, but for some strange reason Imra and Chuck were set on changing her mind. He was like them, they'd each said in their own ways. The last of his kind, lost and alone, ripped from his old life and the people he knew. Imra even said, "Supergirl saved his life, Tia. That must mean something."

Astra grumbled and griped, and tried to go on her instincts about the boy and not old prejudices. "Fine." She eventually agreed. "I'll take responsibility for the Daxamite, but if proves to be an issue I will put him in one of those old cells in the sub basement and forget about him."

For the first three months after his release from the medical center into the Legion's custody all Mon-El did was try to find ways back to Kara. He ignored everyone who tried to tell him it was impossible. He even managed to convince the Coluan to help him. That just ended with a completely destroyed pod, another stay in the medical center, Brainy on Astra's bad side and Mon-El in an all too familiar cell. He was miserable.

When Mon-El had first told her that he and Kara had been a couple Astra had had a hard time believing it.

"Why?" Mon-El had asked her. "Because I'm from Daxam?"

"Yes." Astra had answered honestly. "But also because Kara's first crush had been the daughter of an artist, a clever girl, smart and kind. Even as a girl she favored intelligence, compassion, bravery, and creativity when choosing her friends."

"And you think I'm non of those things?" Mon-El said as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Well," Astra replied. "You are a Daxamite."

Mon-El groaned and threw up his hands before storming off after shouting. "You're just like she was in the beginning!"

But as Astra watched the boy twist himself inside out trying to get back to her niece she couldn't help but feel bad for him. Mon-El loved Kara, in his own immure way, she could see that. But it was unfair to both of them to keep allowing him to run head first into the brick wall that was the idea of him going back. She needed to convince him that it was time he move on with his own life. So after a week in the cell she let him out and took him to the same library she'd gone too when she'd first arrived.

"What are we doing here?" Mon-El asked as he stepped into the small media room and watched as Astra closed the door.

"A thousand years have passed from the time you left." Astra said gently. "Kara lived her whole life without you, Mon-El. If you were to go back now it would change it all for her. I want you to think about Kara for once, not yourself. And when you're finished, if you still want to go back, we'll put real effort into it."

For the longest time Mon-El just sat there. He didn't want to know the truth. But in the end he missed Kara and just wanted to to see her face, hear her voice. So he looked her up. Kara Danvers married Lena Luthor. He reads interviews where Kara talks about Lena as if she'd found Krypton reborn in the dark haired woman. They have children, a son and a daughter, and grandchildren. Picture after picture, video after video, Kara looked happier than he had ever seen her. It gave him a lot to think about.

Of course he would have to sober up before he did any real thinking. After Astra took him back to LHQ, Mon-El look off and didn't come back for days. When he did he was in a drunken stuper.

"Mon-El!" Imra rushed forward to keep the young man from toppling over as he walked through the door. She and Garth had been on their way out to a pop up retro movie screening when Mon-El stumbled his way inside. She managed to catch Mon-El, stumbling under his weight until she used her powers to catch them both. "Are you alright? Where have you been? We've been so worried!"

Garth crinkled his nose and made a face. "He's drunk off his ass, Imra. Drop him on it and let's go before all the good seats are gone."

Imra shot her ginger haired boyfriend of nearly a year a look that said she would do no such thing. "Help me get him to his quarters before Tia sees him like this."

"No way." Garth replied, crossing his arms in defiance. "He made his bed, Imra, now let him throw up on it and lay in it."

"Garth Ranzz, so help me Rao, if you don't help me right now…" Imra threatened.

Garth threw his hands up in defeat. He knew that tone of voice. Imra had learned it from Astra and even though it didn't have quite the same effect on him as their leader's, it still made him give in. He helped Imra get Mon-El to his quarters but was less than gentle when tossing him onto his bed. "Now can we go, please?"

"We can't just leave him like this." Imra huffed at him.

"Imra." Garth groaned. "Seriously?" She shot him another look and he growled. "Fine. Stay here and play nursemaid to loser boy. I'll see if Chuck wants to catch that movie with me."

For most of the night Mon-El was simply too drunk to function but as dawn approached he became a little more coherent between bouts of vomiting. Falling onto his bed after returning from this bathroom he moaned as he said, "She had an amazing life with the love of her life who wasn't me." Tears welled in his eyes as he let himself fall over until his head was in Imra's lap. "I can't take that away from her. I can't go back. I can never see her again."

Imra did her best to comfort him. "You'll have a good life too, Mon-El. After the pain fades and you're ready to move on. You'll see."

Mon-El mumbered. "Not worth it."

"You wouldn't be here if Astra didn't think you were worth something." Imra told him. "No matter what people say, I don't actually have her tied around my finger. If she didn't think there was something, no matter how small, worthy in you, you wouldn't be here no matter how much I tried to persuade her."

"She hates me." Mon-El mumbled into Imra's lap.

"Not as much as she use too." Imra teased as she combed her finger through his hair. "I think you're growing on her."

Imra had been right. Mon-El was growing on her. After accepting that his life was here and Kara's was in the past without him, Mon-El readily accepted the challenge of moving on. He'd come to her, thanked her and asked for her help. She agreed. Astra had seen something in the boy and now that he was ready, she was willing to dig that something up and help turn Mon-El into a man he could be proud of.

"Are you ready?" Astra asked Mon-El as they stood together with a few of the others in a training room.

Mon-El nodded. "Yes ma'am."

Astra nodded and when Mon-El raised his arms she took off the bands that had been inhibiting his powers. "Then lets being. Show me what you got, my boy."

Mon-El smiled and even after Astra kicked his ask he was still smiling. Kara had tried to give him purpose, but it had been her purpose. Astra would show him how to find his purpose for himself, she would help him find what he was meant to do in his life. And he would always be grateful to her for that, and Astra would have one more person who looked at her as if she were someone worth loving and respecting.


	10. Chapter 10

**Earth: 21st Century - 2018**

There was nothing in front of her or behind her but miles and miles of road. It stretched out in front of her like a shimmering black ribbon crossing the lush dark forest on either side of her. Sam kept her golden brown eyes firmly on the road ahead of her while letting her hearing stretch out around her. Several miles northeast of her she could hear the sound of an eagle's feet splash against the surface of the crystal clear lake she was at four days ago, it's talons tearing into the scaled flesh of a salmon. To the west, in the direction she was heading, several miles away in the hills she could hear the playful yipping of wolf cubs playing in their den, their mother not to far off taking down a small deer for their next meal. And miles behind her she could still hear the thankful words of the family who were nearly killed in their RV by a rockslide.

Rolling her wrist towards her, Sam opened up the throttle on her bike, cranking up the speed. She simply wasn't ready to accept gratitude yet. If those people, if any of the people she'd saved the last few weeks, knew what she had done just a few short months ago, they wouldn't be thanking her. They'd be terrified of her.

The two lane road stretched out before her and to anyone else it would have looked deserted, nothing to see at all except the horizon. But Sam wasn't just a normal girl on a motorcycle heading north towards Vancouver from Portland. Sam had heard her coming, had heard the sound of her boots hit the asphalt. Now as she drew closer and closer she could see her, standing there waiting, hands on her hips, smile on her sunny face. Her first friend in National City, not including Lena who'd she'd already known before she'd picked up and moved herself and her daughter there, and now apparently her cousin. That was a trunk full of baggage Sam hadn't even touched yet.

Stopping the bike several feet away from waiting figure of Supergirl, Sam turned the engine off, kicked the kickstand into place, and then swung her long leg over the bike to stand beside it. She was wearing black jeans, a black tank top, and a black leather jacket with black embroidered roses on the shoulders. The funny thing was when she found it in a thrift store in New Mexico her first thought had been about Alex and what the redhead would think of it. Again, something Sam hadn't touched yet, the feelings Alex Danvers stirred up in her.

Reaching for the black helmet she wore Sam took it off slowly, letting her hair fall from within and down her back. It was longer than it had been when she'd left and she'd been wearing it as straight as possible these days. Holding the helmet in her hand as she walked towards Supergirl, Sam couldn't stop the sudden panic that bubbled up in her chest. Kara had promised to give her time and space, to leave her alone while she sorted things out, so naturally her first instinct upon seeing Kara was to ask, "What's wrong? Is Ruby alright?"

"Ruby's fine, Sam." Kara reassured. "She misses you like crazy, but otherwise she's good."

Sam relaxed, letting go of the breath she'd been holding. Then she shifted her weight to her left foot, and tucked her helmet under her arm a she glared at Kara. "Then what are you doing here, Kara?"

"You know we don't actually need to wear helmets?" Kara said nervously while twisting the edge of her cape in her hands.

"It keeps my hair out of my face." Sam replied, her voice slipping into what everyone called her mom voice. "Kara? You promised…"

"I know." Kara said quickly. She reached up as if to play with her glasses but she was Supergirl right now so they weren't there to fidget with. "I'm not really sure how to tell you this."

"Tell me what?" Sam replied. Whatever it was it had Kara both excited and nervous. From the emotions playing out over the blonde's face, Sam was fairly sure that Kara wasn't sure how to feel about whatever it was, and that made her worrying about how Sam might feel even worse. Again Sam put the full force of her mom voice into it as she said, "Kara."

"Astra's alive." Kara spat out before she could think. Then she whined. "Sam! You used mom voice on me! That's not fair!"

Sam blinked slowly. Astra was alive? Kara's aunt, the Kryptonian terrorist, and apparently Sam's biological mother was alive? How? Kara had told her what happened. She'd explained that Astra was killed in a fight against J'onn and Alex. She'd told her about saying the prayer for the dead and how it should have rightfully been Sam who'd said it because Sam's older than Kara. "I don't understand. You said…"

"I know." Kara said softly. "It's a really long story that involves the sun and time travel. The short version is the sun made her not dead, she got sucked into a wormhole, and has been living in the 31st century where she founded the Legion. Now she's here, not perminaly, just visiting, but she's here for us, Sam. To see us, to reconnect with me and to, well, meet you."

Again Sam blinked slowly. She felt like she was caught in some kind of weird underwater dream. "She wants to meet me? She knows about me?"

"She recently found out about you." Kara said with a nod. "She won't tell me how. Spoilers and all that."

"How long have you been waiting to say that?" Sam teased. She needed a moment, several moments, to wrap her head around this.

Kara giggled and smiled brightly at her cousin. "Since she said she couldn't give us a lot of details because her just being here has created a big enough paradox that telling us more about what happens in our futures would make it worse."

Sam raised her fist to her head, pressing the heel of her hand against forehead as if she were trying to ease a headache. Her thoughts and emotions were swirling around all over the damn place. She tried to remind herself that Astra hadn't willingly given her up. The woman had been lied too, had been told her baby daughter was dead. But then again Astra was a fucking terrorist who tried to conquer the Earth. Like mother, like daughter, Sam thought. Who the hell was she to judge?

"Look, Sam." Kara said as she closed the distance between them. She put her hand on Sam's shoulder and squeezed reassuringly. "I just wanted you to know what was happening. I don't expect you to come back with me or to even agree to seeing her. That's all totally up to you."

"I'm not ready to come back yet, Kara." Sam said softly as she opened her eyes and lifted her head to look into Kara's eyes.

Kara nodded. "I understand."

"As far as Astra." Sam shrugged. "Kara. I, just, I need time to think."

Again Kara nodded. "Ok." She smiled at Sam and then pulled her into a tight hug. "For what it's worse, Sam, you look amazing."

Sam chuckled softly as she returned Kara's hug gladly. When they pulled apart she said, "You like the outfit?"

"Well, yeah, but that's not what I meant." Kara said with her sunny smile. "You don't look as haunted as you did when you left. I think this sojourn of yours is helping."

"I hope it is." Sam said softly. "It's keeping me away from Ruby, but until I get my damn head on straight again, until I can trust myself and what I've become, I can't be around her, around any of you."

"You can't hurt me Sam." Kara tried to reassured.

"That's the thing, Kara." Sam replied. "I did hurt you, I nearly killed you, and until I'm sure that something like that won't happen again…"

"It won't." Kara said firmly. "Reign's gone, Sam."

"You should head back to National City." Sam said softly.

Kara sighed and nodded. "Sure, just one last thing. I promised Ruby and Lena I would being back proof that you're ok, in one piece, and taking care of yourself." She pulled her phone from her boot. She smiled when Sam gave in and let her take pictures. Then she gave Sam letters from everyone.

"You people act like I don't call once a week." Sam said as she stuffed the letters into the inside pocket of her jacket.

"We love you Sam." Kara said, pulling Sam in for another hug. "We just want you to remember that."

Sam sighed and said, "I love you guys too."

It was decided that it would probably be for the best if Astra didn't go flying around the city. Her previous actions had not yet faded from public memory and seeing the Kryptonian general who'd tried to take over the planet might send the public into a panic. If she wasn't with Kara or Lena, then Vasquez was her escort. She couldn't really blame Alex for being cautious, Astra hadn't expected any kind of warm open armed welcome. It's why she wasn't surprised when Kara returned to tell her that Sam wasn't sure what she wanted to do as far as Astra was concerned, though Kara did her best to reassure her that Sam would come around. It's also why she had to give Alex credit for trying, at least for Kara's sake, to keep her discomfort and unease at a minimum.

Walking into the command center with Lena, they were picking Kara up to spend the afternoon together, Astra looked up at the bank of monitors on the wall. There seemed to be images and video of the same man on all of them.

"Facial recognition has picked up Coville again." Winn reported.

"Where?" Alex asked as she moved from where she'd been working to stand behind Winn.

Winn tapped at his keyboard for a few seconds before answering, "Pacific northwest, heading north out of Portland."

"When?" Kara asked, concern etching across her face.

Before Winn could reply Astra spoke up. She had moved away from Lena and towards the screens. In several of the pictures of the man they were apparently tracking was a woman. She wasn't right beside him but in the background. She narrowed her eyes as she spoke. "I know her."

Everyone's attention turned towards Astra. Winn looked nervous and perhaps a little scared. Alex looked annoyed. Lena simply raised eyebrow. And Kara, her concern grew as she looked at her aunt and asked, "Aunt Astra?"

Astra pointed out the figure in the images. "That woman. Jindah Kol. She was a prisoner on Fort Rozz. It was discovered that she was a high priestess of a dark cult decided to Yuda Kal, and that she and her followers had been experimenting in ways that broke the laws of the Science Guild. She was charged and convicted of blasphemy, heresy, and unethical biological experimentation."

Everyone was exchanging looks that made Astra feel uneasy. Turning her attention to Kara she asked, "What is it?"

"The cult of Yuda Kal." Kara said softly. "It becomes the cult of Reign."

"They're after Sam!" Alex said with wide eyes.

"Why would they be after Sam?" Winn asked. "She isn't Reign anymore."

"But they don't know that." Lena contributed. "There's no way they could know that I completely removed the Reign virus from her DNA. The chemicals Coville has been stealing, they could possibly be a way to try and trigger the virus again, but I still haven't been able to figure out what the last item they would need could be. It would need to be something that would make the chemicals react in a way that would simulate the effect the crystal from Sam's pod had on Sam."

"Jindah had an idol of some kind, a figurine of Yuda Kal in black rock, that she managed to keep hidden from Facet Jens." Astra said.

"Kara." Alex said as she turned to her sister. "Where was Sam heading?"

"North." Kara replied. "Towards Vancouver."

Jindah Kol had played a part in what happened to her daughter. The experiments she'd been involved in, the cult she had been apart of, had taken her daughter from her and turned her into a living weapon of destruction. Now it seemed the bitch was at it again? Oh no. Astra wasn't about to let anything happen to Sam, not this time. While Kara and her team began debating a plan Astra slipped away and before anyone could even blink she was gone. She contacted her Legion to fill them in and soon she was joined by Imra and Mon-El.

Sam knew she was being followed. She'd heard them miles ago. She just didn't know who they were or why they were following her. Which is why she was leading them as far away from people as possible before finally confronting them. Whoever they were, they didn't seem to want to wait however. Sam heard the all too familiar hum of heat vision and was able to fly upwards off her motorcycle before the blast hit it.

"Damnit!" Sam swore. "I really liked that bike!"

Two figures loomed below her on the road. The woman was old, dressed in black with a cloak, but it was the symbol on her chest that caused Sam's blood to run cold. The worldkiller crest. Sam's hands balled into fists as she landed several yards away from the pair. That's when she noticed the man's eyes. HIs irises were gray and blended into the white of his eyes, his black pupils blown larger than they should be. Looking away from his eyes, Sam took in the man's face. "I know you." She said to him. "You're the crackpot who created a cult around Supergirl."

"A mistake." Coville said, his voice strangely altered. He rolled his neck like he was trying to get comfortable in his own skin. His fingers flexed, and his shoulders rolled. "Supergirl is a false savior." He said when he finished fidgeting. "Reign is our one true hope."

Sam's jaw clenched and her fists tightened to the point that her knuckles turned white. "Reign is dead."

"No my child." Jindah said as she took several steps towards Sam. "She is merely asleep."

Fear washed over Sam like a tidal wave as she watched the woman remove something from her cloak and hold it up. It was some kind of figurine that the woman held out towards her as if offering her a gift.

Nothing happened.

Jindah moved closer and closer and still nothing happened.

"Is that suppose to do something to me?" Sam asked as she shifted her weight to her left foot and crossed her arms over her leather jacket bound chest.

"What have you done!?" Jindah roared. "Where is my creation!?"

"I told you." Sam said firmly. "The Reign virus was destroyed."

Jindah's eyes began to glow red but before she could release the blast of heat vision she was building up, and before Sam had the chance to react a white hot beam came out of nowhere, hitting the the woman, while the figurine seemed to hover in mid air. Sam blinked.

"Jindah Kol!" Astra roared as her heat vision stopped and she prepared to charge at the cloaked woman. "Get the hell away from my daughter!"

Sam blinked again as she watched a chestnut haired woman with a white strip in her hair fly at the old cloaked woman. What the hell was going on?

"Mistress!" Coville roared and prepared to attack.

"Oh, no, I don't think so, buddy." Mon-El said before his fist collided with Coville's face. The man didn't go down like Mon-El had expected. It wasn't until Coville was fighting back that he released the man had been changed.

Sam watched as the black figurine floated towards a raven haired woman with outstretched hands. Was the woman moving it somehow? Sam blinked again as she watched the woman put the figurine into a cylinder shaped containment canister before rushing off to help the dark haired man in the red suit. "What the hell is going on!"

"Astra In-Ze." Jindah said as she staggered to her feet. Astra's charge had sent her flying, crashing through several trees, but it wasn't enough to knock her down to stay. "Well, this is an unexpected surprise. Aren't you dead?"

Normally Astra would have some witty or snarky reply to the question but now wasn't the time for it. "You have a lot to answer for, witch."

"Oh?" Jindah teased. "And what exactly are you going to make me pay for, Astra? I didn't actually do anything to the child, I was already on that forsaken prison ship in the Phantom Zone when my sisters took the child. I didn't even know it had been your child who'd been chosen as the sacred vessel until Non told me." She smirked, a twisted nasty smirk. "I suppose if you want to try and punish me for something… I did sleep with your husband, but you'd been hard pressed to find a member of my order who didn't. He was such a lovely pet to have around."

Astra would add that to the list of things about Non she would have to deal with later. Right now it was about her daughter. "You created the experiments that led to what those bitches did to my child."

"Oh, that, yes." Jindah said with a nod. "While someone else perfected and implemented what I started, I did create the building blocks for the worldkillers."

Astra's eyes began to glow white hot as she listened to the smug witch talk.

"Is now the part where you try to kill me?" Jindah mocked.

"I'm not going to kill you." Astra said before once again launching herself at the other Kryptonian. "But I am going to make you wish you were dead."

Sam wasn't about to just stand there and let these people fight her battles for her. Since it seemed as if the dark haired bearded man and the dark haired woman had Coville under control, Sam took off into the treeline to look for the two older women. The cult bitch, who Sam now knew was trying to draw Reign out again, and the chestnut haired woman with the white strip in her hair. Sam had heard what the woman had said when she'd called out to the cult witch, she just didn't know what to think or feel about it. Sam was still trying to deal with finding out who her parents were. She never thought she'd have to do that while meeting one of them. Kara had told her they were both dead.

Getting out of the way just in time Sam watched as Astra crashed into the hillside, her impact throwing dust and stone everywhere. Sam rushed over to her and quickly knelt beside her. "Are you alright?"

Astra looked up into the face of the child she'd spent so long thinking was dead, into Sam's golden brown eyes, so much like her own. Her heart swelled and before she could stop herself she said, "Samra."

The boulder smashed into the hillside just above them and Sam didn't even hesitate in using her body to shield Astra's from the falling debris. When the worse of it stopped falling on them Sam stood, looked down at the woman who was apparently her birth mother, and then held out her hand to help her up. Their matching golden brown eyes locked as Astra stood up and for the longest moment it was just the two of them, unsure and uncertain, and silently freaking out inside. Then Sam once again heard the familur hum of heat vision. She let go of Astra's hand and turned just in time to meet Jindah's with her own. Sam's powers were much stronger and it was easy for her to force the much older woman into backing off with her heat vision. The old crone must have known if she'd gone much longer she'd have blown out her powers all together. Sam watched as Jindah took to the air and guessed she was trying to clear the tree tops to expose herself to more direct sunlight. Sam turned to look at Astra.

Astra smiled. "After you."

Sam lifted off the ground and Astra followed. In the distance they could hear the continued fighting between Imra, Mon-El, and Coville. The fact that Jindah had created a new worldkiller fueled Sam as she flew straight at the old woman. Coville was messed up, confused and maybe even sick, he didn't deserve to be turned into a monster anymore than she had. Jindah had barely managed to hold her own against Astra, she hadn't stood a chance against Astra and Sam. For several minutes it looked as if they were playing a Kryptonian version of Pong in the sky, with Jindah as the ball bouncing between Sam and Astra. The fight ended when Sam threw the old dark priestess to the grown where Astra waited with power inhibiting restraints.

"No!" Coville roared upon seeing his mistress' defeat. Grabbing hold of Mon-El and Imra he threw them as hard as he could before aiming his rage at Astra, but he never reached her.

Astra watched as the monster who was once a man sank to his knees before falling face first into the dirt. When she looked up she saw Sam standing behind him. Astra smiled with such pride and adoration at the young woman, even though she wasn't entirely sure she had a right too. Yes Sam was her daughter but she hadn't raised her, she didn't even know her. Retrieving a second pair of restraints she handed them to Sam. "These will inhibit his powers. I need to go find my team, make sure they're alright."

Sam nodded as she accepted the restraints and started to put them on Coville.

By the time Supergirl and the DEO arrived there wasn't anything left to do but transport Jindah and Coville to holding cells.

"Sam." Alex said as she rushed towards the tall brunette. "Are you alright?"

Sam smiled reassuringly at her friend. "I'm fine Alex." Then her smile widened as she took the other woman in. Alex's hair was shorter and she had a kick ass new suit. She liked it. "Love the hair."

Alex blushed.

Astra watched with a slightly cocked eyebrow.

When Sam and Astra had a moment alone Sam looked over at her and asked, "What was that you called me when you first saw me?"

Astra had to think a moment and then replied, "Samra. It was the name I gave you when you were born. Samra In-Ze."

"What does it mean?" Sam asked next, not sure why of all things she was asking that.

"Pure light." Astra answered. "Because that's what you were to me, pure light given to me by Rao himself."

Kara walked over with a look of regret on her face. She didn't want to interrupt. "We should be getting back. Sam? Are you coming?"

Sam looked from Kara to Astra to Alex before finally nodding. "Yeah, I'm coming. I've been away from home to long as it is, and I really wanna see Ruby."


	11. Chapter 11

**Earth: 21st Century - 2018**

She watched from a distance as Lena stepped off the elevator and made her way across the room with quick sure steps until she was face to face with Sam. Astra could easily hear the soft, "Sam, you're home." That Lena breathed out as she embraced her friend and Sam's equally soft, "Yeah, I'm home." As she hugged Lena back. The affection the two women felt for each other was clearly evident and it warmed Astra's heart to know that her daughter had people in her life who loved her and cared about her as much as Lena and Alex did. And to know that Kara and Sam were close, to know that they had found their way to each other on this alien planet, the last children of Krypton and the House of Ze, together as they should be, well that meant everything to her.

Astra had been so focused on watching Kara, Sam, and Lena that she hadn't noticed the return of Alex's heart beat or the addison of a new one until an ear piercing squeal of, "Mommy!" rang out through the cavernous space of the DEO mere seconds before a young girl with long dark hair streaked with blue came running full force towards Sam. Lena barely had time to get out of the way before the child was crashing into Sam.

"Hey Rubes." Sam said softly as she wrapped her arms around her daughter carefully. With Ruby tucked under her chin Sam took a deep breath, as if filling all of her senses with her daughter's presence, and then whispered. "I missed you."

"I missed you too." Ruby replied, her voice thick with emotion and her dark eyes glassy with tears.

Sam looked over the top of Ruby's head to Alex and smiled after mouthing the words thank you. Alex blushed a little as she returned the smile and gave Sam a simple nod of her head in acknowledgement.

She felt intrusive, as if she were watching an intimate scene between a family not meant for the eyes of strangers, but Astra couldn't help herself. She found it hard to have Sam out of her sight, as if the young woman would disappear if she couldn't see her. A part of Astra was still afraid she would wake up to find this a dream. Any moment now she would wake up in her cell aboard Fort Rozz and all of her anger and grief would be there rotting inside her again. But this wasn't a dream, she was standing there watching her daughter and her granddaughter, and it was a moment she shouldn't be spying on, but she couldn't turn away. Ruby was just as beautiful as Sam, and Astra could pinpoint every feature, every characteristic the girl had inherited from her, from her parents, even her grandparents.

Astra watched the four women and young girl closely and wondered how Sam and Alex couldn't see the way the looked at each other, or how they missed the way Ruby's eyes lit up when looking between them, as if the only thing in the world she wanted now that her mother was home was for her moms to be a couple. Astra smiled when Lena slipped her hand into Kara's, at least those two seemed to have figured it out.

"Tia." Imra said softly as she approached. "Why aren't you down there with your family?"

Astra turned away from the scene blow to look at the young woman now standing beside her. Then she returned her attention to the family below them, because that's what they were, a family. "I may be Kara's aunt and Samantha's mother, but family… I'm not sure I'm…"

Before Astra could even finish her sentence she could feel the piercing gaze of El blue eyes on her and Kara's gaze made her stop speaking. She watched as Kara let go of Lena's hand before launching herself into the air. Still in her Supergirl uniform Kara was truly a sight to behold floating there at eye level mere feet away. She could almost feel Imra smirking beside her.

"I don't think she liked what you were about to say." Imra said with amusement.

Kara crossed her arms over her chest. "I didn't." She confirmed. Then she let her arms fall to her sides as she floated closer. "Aunt Astra, you have always been my family. Even when we weren't on the same side, you were still my family, nothing could ever change that."

"Little one," Astra sighed softly and smiled warmly at her niece. Her gaze remained locked with Kara's as Kara floated over the railing to stand beside her. "What I meant is that you've built a family of your own here and I…"

"And you are apart of that family." Kara said firmly. "I can't speak for Sam, your relationship with her is up to the two of you. But I've lost you to many times in the past to lose you again."

Astra had to look away from the pure heartfelt emotions in Kara's eyes. After everything she had done, had planned on doing, everything she had put Kara through, her niece was willing to accept her back into her life with open arms and forgiveness Astra wasn't sure she was ready to accept. Turning from Kara had brought her gaze back to Sam who was now looking up at her. They looked into each other's eyes for several long moments before the corner of Sam's lips ticked into a bit of a smile before she finally looked away. Ruby had said something Astra had missed and both Sam and Alex nodded. Sam hugged Lena once more, whispering to her to hug Kara for her, and then Sam, Alex and Ruby made their way out of the DEO.

"Sam just needs time." Kara said softly as she watched her cousin leave for home. "She's been through a lot, more than anyone should ever have too."

Astra nodded. She understood. "I didn't come here expecting to have a relationship with her. I just wanted to see her, to see with my own eyes that she was alive."

"Well, she is." Kara said with a smile full of the hope she was known for. "And now you have a chance to get to know her, to form some kind of a relationship with her." Kara smirked in a way that reminded Astra of Alura and it made Astra raise an eyebrow as Kara spoke again. "If you're brave enough to stick around and try that is."

"Child." Astra huffed as she crossed her arms. "Are you calling me a coward?"

"Bravery is being afraid but doing it anyway." Kara replied.

Astra promised to stay, but told Kara that she would not push Sam into anything. If Sam wanted to see Astra then Astra would agree to meeting with her. Over the following days since Sam's return Astra helped with making repairs to the ship. She knew that Mon-El had some regrets when it came to his former relationship with Kara, that he felt awful about how he'd treated her, and he'd wanted to apologize and make amends, so she stepped in to help Brainy while he tried to repair his friendship with Kara. Helping with ship repairs also gave her a chance to spend some one on one time with Lena. It was as clear as a data crystal that Kara and Lena loved each other as if the Genesis chamber had literally created them for one another. So Astra wanted to get to know Lena, to understand the person who owned her niece's heart, whose own heart belonged to Kara and her son.

Astra watched as Lena easily manipulated a piece of technology more advanced than anything she would have seen before like it was a child's toy, and then smiled as she leaned back against the wall out of Lena's way. "It's evident that you're passion and skills are geared towards science and technology, Lena. If you were Kryptonian I could easily see you unseating Jor as the Minister of the Science Guild." Astra smirked at the thought. "Actually I'd have enjoyed seeing that."

Lena looked up from what she was doing to look at Astra and smiled. "Kara thinks you and her uncle didn't like each other much. She just has no idea why."

"We didn't." Astra admitted. "Jor always found the fact that Lara and I were, lets just say very close, in school a bit bothersome."

Lena understood the smile on Astra's face was one of remembering very fond memories, and she wondered if Kara knew that her aunts had dated in high school. She smiled in a way that told Astra she understood what she was saying and then went back to what she was doing as she said, "Science and tech have always been my thing. I was never meant to run the family company, though I was educated in how to do so nonetheless. Lex was meant to run the company. I just had to not be a total embarrassment."

"It must have been difficult for you when you suddenly found yourself thrust into the leadership of the whole company." Astra said gently as she moved across the room to take a seat near Lena.

"It was, for a lot of different reasons." Lena nodded. "I'm a woman, I'm fairly young, and I had a completely different direction I wanted to take the company in. My father ran Luthor Corp to fuel his greed, my brother ended up using it to fuel his madness, his vendetta against Superman."

"Selfish men with selfish agendas." Astra cut in. "We had plenty of those on Krypton and look where it ended us."

"I want L Corp to be a force for good." Lena said with a look of determination in her dark yet bright eyes. "I want to use our resources to help the world, not further it along in it's path of destruction, and I don't see why that has to be something that hurts our bottomline."

Astra smiled warmly at the younger woman. "My dear, it is all you want it to be and more. In my time, L Corp is a beacon of hope. Luthor is a name people trust. It's your legacy that remains, and every other Luthor of this time is a footnote in history."

Lena blinked, her mouth slightly agape. Then she says, "Should you be telling me this?"

"Probably not." Astra said with a shrug. "But I see the way you look at Kara, and the way she looks at you. You're family Lena, and if telling you that all of the hardships you'll face are worth it in the long run, than I don't see the harm in it."

"Thank you." Lena said softly. "The next time I'm faced with a boardroom full of old white men who long for the days of my father's leadership, knowing this may just make it easier to face."

After she would finish her work on the ship Lena would often invite Astra to join her and Kara for dinner. At first Astra felt odd about it, as she still struggled with accepting Kara's forgiveness, and would make excuses about staying aboard the ship for Imra or one of her boys, but Lena wasn't one to accept the same excuse twice. It was a strange mix of emotions sitting at the dinner table with Kara and her family, she would often be flooded with memories of meals shared with her parents and Alura, and later with Alura and a small Kara. Allowing those memories to flood her mind and heart were bittersweet for Astra, but making new ones was a gift she cherished.

"Kara, darling, look." Lena said suddenly with a playful smirk while tearing up bits of bread and dipping them in salt and peppered oil before offering the small bits to Andrew.

"What?" Kara said, her bright blue eyes darting around to find what Lena wanted her to see.

Lena glanced over at Astra and said, "A Kryptonian willingly eating a vegetable without making a face like a pouty three year old."

Astra laughed, nearly choking on the bite of garlic roasted brussel sprout she'd just been eating. Reaching for her glass of wine she took a sip to wash down the food and then wiped her mouth with Lena's linen napkin before asking, "Does she still hate vegetables?"

Lena raised a perfect eyebrow at her beloved's aunt and asked in reply, "Still?"

"Oh yes." Astra nodded. "Kara loathed eating vegetables as a child. As far as she was concerned anything leafy and green was the enemy. Alura would have to threaten to withhold her dessert or to cancel an activity to get her to eat them."

Kara huffed and pouted. "Daddy never forced me to eat anything green and leafy."

"That's because he was hiding it in those silly constructs of his." Astra informed her niece. She then went on to explain to Kara that one of her favorite childhood dishes, which her father would make for her, was all plant based and she never knew it.

Kara gasped, slapping her hand to her chest as if stuck by something painful. "My childhood has been tainted!"

Again Astra laughed, which made Lena, Kara and even Andrew laugh. Rao how she had missed this. She could hear Alura in Kara's laugh and while it made her long for her sister, it also reminded her of what it felt like to be loved by her family.

The next time Astra saw Sam it was at the DEO as the young woman was slipping out of the medical lab. Concern instantly flooded the older Kryptonian who was there to speak with J'onn about ship repairs. Changing directions Astra walked over to the tall brunette with the House of Ze features. "Sam?" Astra called out. "Is everything alright? Are you ok?"

Sam hadn't really been able to work out how she felt about suddenly finding out her birth mother was not only alive but here for her to interact with. Her feelings about her parents, all of them, were complicated. She did her best to give Astra a warm, reassuring smile as she replied. "I'm fine. Alex and Lena are just being overly cautious and extremely protective."

Astra visibly relaxed at hearing that Sam was fine. She returned the young woman's warm smile as she said, "They love you. They just want to make sure you're alright."

"I know." Sam said with a nod. "It's the only reason I agreed to come in and get poked and prodded."

A long awkward silence fell between the two women after that. Neither of them knew what to say to the other. Astra didn't want to push, and Sam just wasn't sure about anything. Honestly she was still processing the fact that Kara was her cousin, and she knew Kara, cared about Kara. Astra was a complete and total stranger, a ghost, a figure from the countless stories Kara had told her while she was recovering. Then her enhanced hearing picked up on Alex saying something about running more tests and before Sam could stop herself she looked at Astra and asked, "Wanna get out of here? Grab a coffee or lunch or something?"

Astra's surprise flickered across her face before she managed to regain control of her expressions and nod. "Yes, I'd like that." They used superspeed to get to Sam's SUV and once Sam had pulled out of the parking garage and onto the street Astra felt the need to explain, "I promised to limit the use of my powers while I'm here. I make Agent Danvers nervous."

Sam chuckled softly. "A lot of things make Alex nervous when it comes to Kara. It's part of her natural protectiveness."

Before she could stop herself Astra said, "I don't think her protectiveness is limited to just Kara."

Sam shot Astra a look before focusing on the road once more.

Since returning to National City Sam had been leery of venturing out into public. A part of her was afraid someone might recognize her as Reign and she'd cause a panic. Alex, Lena, Kara and even Ruby tried to convince her otherwise. Ruby even told her that she hadn't known she was Reign until she'd watched her take her mask off. So if Ruby couldn't tell Sam Arias and Reign were one in the same, how would some random person on the street? But Sam was still afraid, and probably would be for awhile. So they got sandwiches and coffee from a Starbucks drive through and then Sam took them to a lesser known part of the park where they could sit and talk or not if they didn't want to talk.

Astra smiled softly when she realized where they were. This part of the park was tucked away in a corner near the harbor where the only sign of life other than wildlife were an occasional tugboat or a random barge. There was some benches which she and Sam made their way to, but they were old and weather beaten, nothing like the new ones in the park proper. Behind them was a steep slope covered in plants, wild flowers, and trees that you weren't quite sure how they managed to stay put. In front of them on the opposite side of the path was a low break wall made of large mismatched broken blocks of concrete. "I didn't spend much time taking in my surroundings the last time I was here in this time, so all I know of National City if from the future. It's a bit stranger to see this place before it becomes a bit more developed."

"Kara told me that in the future you're a superhero, like her." Sam said softly as she looked at the woman sat beside her.

"I'm not sure hero is the right word." Astra said as she took the lid off her coffee before taking a sip. "My team, my students, they're heroes. I'm just someone trying to make up for a lot of past mistakes."

Sam nodded. She understood what that felt like, the guilt that comes with the truth of her actions. Virus or no virus, Sam did horrible things as Reign and blaming it all on what was done to her, well, that didn't ease Sam's guilt. "Do you ever feel like it'll be enough someday?"

"If you ask my girls they'll tell you I've more than made up for my actions." Astra answered. "But, I'm not so easily satisfied. I'm not sure I'll ever feel as if I've done enough."

"Your girls?" Sam replied. "You mean Imra?"

Astra smiled and nodded. "And her younger sister, yes. They were just small children when their home was destroyed in a galactic war that steam rolled over countless innocent planets. They came to Earth alone, frightened, their parents dead, their world gone. I was alone, everything I loved lost to me either when Krypton fell or to the past. They needed someone to keep them safe and I needed a purpose, so we kind of landed in each other orbits."

"Imra seems really nice." Sam commented before sipping her coffee.

"Imra was always the more soft spoken, level headed of the two." Astra replied with a look of love on her face that would be familiar to any mother. "Preya was the more boisterous one. She was often getting into things that would require rescuing of some sort."

Sam smiled and relaxed a little as she watched Astra react with such pride and love for the two abandon children she'd taken in and cared for. "She must have come as a surprise then, given how different she must have been to a Kryptonian child."

Astra crinkled her forehead and nose as she looked at Sam with a look that said she didn't understand. "How so?"

"Well, the way Kara explains it, children on Krypton were raised to be, well, I guess inquisitive but perfectly well behaved." Sam replied.

Astra barked out a laugh that nearly made her spill her coffee. "Let me tell you about well behaved Kryptonian children, dear one. Let's start with the time Kara and her best friend Thara reprogrammed their teacher's Klex to recite unflattering limericks about the queen of Daxam rather than sounding the chime that normally ended a lesson."

"Kara did that?" Sam replied with surprise and snort of amusement.

"Kara was a good child, but hardly a flawless one." Astra replied. "Children were allowed to be children on Krypton. They played, and got into mischief, just as Earth children do." She laughed softly. "Rao knows Alura and I got into our fair share of trouble. We nearly drove a young tutor from Xan City mad because we had him convinced there was only one of us, and that the other must have been a figment of his imagination. Our parents were less than amused when they discovered what was going on."

Sam had been raised as an only child so she didn't have the experience of sharing a life and memories with a sibling, but that didn't stop her from seeing how bittersweet remembering Alura was to Astra. She could see the guilt along with the sorrow in Astra's eyes that the warmth of her smile just couldn't hide. Letting Sam see this very human side of her made it easier for Sam to open up to Astra about her own childhood the next time they met for coffee and sandwiches on the weather worn benches in the out of the way space in the park.

Meeting up became a regular thing and with each hour spent together in the park both women could feel something forming between them. Astra had been heartbroken and angry when she heard that Patricia had thrown Sam out when Sam had become pregnant. The woman had made a pact with Rao to care for his lost child when she'd found Sam and taken her in. A vow to always care for her, to protect her, and be there for her, and what does this woman do? She throws Sam to the wolves when she needed her most? Sam actually had to talk Astra out of flying to this woman's homestead and letting her know just how displeased she was over the treatment of her child. Something in Astra's reaction, her pure and heartfelt need to want to protect Sam even if that meant protecting her from past hurts, helped Sam to make a decision.

Astra had a warm smile on her lips as she made her way to their spot in the park to meet Sam for lunch. It was a bit unusual for them to meet on a Saturday, but Sam had been so busy at L Corp the last week and half and Astra had been caught up in the final repairs to the ship that they hadn't been able to meet. As she grew closer to their spot Astra's smile widened at the sight of Sam sitting there waiting, but then she caught sight of who sat beside Sam and Astra's heart skipped a beat and she faltered in her stride for a moment.

Sam noticed the look on Ruby's face and it made her turn to see what Ruby was looking at. She smiled at the sight of Astra and stood up to greet the older woman. She could see by the look on Astra's face that the woman was surprised. "I hope you don't mind." Sam said as she closed some of the distance between herself and her birth mother. "I thought you might like to meet your granddaughter."

For several seconds Astra's lips moved before works finally passed over them. She had longed to meet her granddaughter but she didn't want to wish for to much. She and Sam were just starting to build a relationship, and she didn't want to put any kind of stress or expectation on that. "Of course I don't mind." Astra finally managed to say just as the three of them entered each other's space. Astra looked at Ruby with awe and her heart fluttered as she smiled. "I would very much like to meet my granddaughter."

Ruby smiled, a little unsurely but very sweetly. Sam had explained things to her but it was still pretty weird. "Hi." She greeted as she looked up at Astra. "I'm Ruby."

"It is very nice to meet you Ruby." Astra replied.

The two hit it off so well that Ruby asked Astra to come over for dinner so they could keep talking. Astra was unsure but Sam agreed with Ruby, that she would love it if Astra came over for dinner. Ruby was absolutely enthralled by Astra's stories of Krypton. Even commenting that she knew more than Kara! Astra laughed, "Well of course I do. I am much older than Kara and lived much more of my life on Krypton."

Ruby's face lit up as she remembered something and jumped from the sofa after grabbing hold of Astra's hand. "I have to show you something."

Astra gladly and with a found chuckle allowed Ruby to pull her back to Sam's home office.

"Kara painted this for my Mom." Ruby explained as she pulled Astra over to a painting on the wall.

Astra gasped softly at the landscape depicted in the painting. While they had spent most of their time in Argo City, at least once a year she, Alura and their parents would venture to an old ancestral home beyond the city limits, tucked into the red and orange cliffs of the desert. Astra reached out as if to touch a memory. "This was our favorite place on all of Krypton, mine and Alura's." Astra's heart ached with loss. She missed her sister so much. But then she smiled and looked at Ruby and said, "We would play for hours in the sands, climbing the cliffs, that when we finally came inside we were covered head to toe in red dust."

When the ship was finally repaired and ready to make the trip back to their time, Astra found it hard to want to go. She felt like she had just arrived and hadn't had nearly enough time with Kara, or Sam, or the new family she was quickly becoming a part of, despite it having been several weeks. She knew that they all needed to get back, that she needed to get back, she couldn't stay in this time. Her life was in the 31st century with her Legionnaires, with Imra and Preya, but apart of her heart was here too.

"You should stay longer, Tia." Imra said as she watched Astra move around the bridge of the ship. "Spend more time with them. When you're ready you can use your ring to come back."

"I've been gone too long as it is, Immy." Astra protested. "I need to go back and make sure Garth hasn't done anything stupid, and that Charles hasn't gone mad trying to keep the peace."

"We'll head back." Imra reassured. "We'll look out for everyone. You just got to start spending time with your granddaughter, now's not the time for you to go."

Astra hestated. A little more time with them, that's all she wanted, just a little more time. "Are you sure?"

Imra nodded. "If anything goes wrong enough that we need you we'll signal you or come back for you. I promise."

Pulling Imra into her arms Astra hugged her tightly. "Thank you."

She got what she wanted. Astra got to be a part of Sam's and Kara's family for a little while longer. But all good things must come to an end. There was trouble back home and when Preya came out of a ring created temporal transport Astra knew it was bad. Kara wanted to come help but Astra told her that her place was here, that Supergirl and Kara Danvers were needed here and now. She would be fine, she promised. She said her goodbyes, and accepted reassurances that it was ok for her to go.

"Mother." Sam called out just as Astra was preparing to leave.

Astra's heart swelled and her eyes burned as she turned to face Sam. She'd never called her that before. "Yes Samra?"

"Come back to visit when you can?" Sam asked.

"I will." Astra replied. "I promise." Then she moved back to where Sam and Kara stood. She took off her ring and held it out to them. "If either of you ever need me. Use this."

Sam took the ring while Kara nodded and replied. "We will. And if you ever need us…"

"You know where to find us." Sam finished.

Astra reached up and caressed their faces. "My girls. May Rao's light bless and keep you warm until we see each other again."

As soon as Astra stepped into the command center of the Legion's HQ a cheer of relief went up. "The General's back!"

"Oh thank goodness." Chuck sighed with relief.

"What's going on?" Astra demanded. "Is it the Lanterns again? It better not be the Rao damned Lanterns again."

"Thanagarians this time" Mon-El reported.

Astra growled. "Damnit, how many times do we have to clip those lossy birds' wings. Give me five minutes and I want to know everything."

Astra went to her quarters to change out of her jeans and blouse and into her uniform. As soon as she stepped into the room Astra felt a sudden head rush like nothing she had ever experienced before. Time was catching up to her. Her trip back in time had indeed caused some changes. When she opened her eyes they settled on a painting that hung over her sofa and she smiled. It was the desert painting from Sam's home office, a gift from her daughter left for her in Lena Luthor's private vault. Astra smiled a moment longer and then went to get her uniform. War birds first, nostalgia later. The General and her Legion had some tail feathers to kick.


	12. Chapter 12

**Earth: 21st Century - 2018**

Despite all the things Sam did while she was out trying to cope with what happened to her, she really didn't have any intentions of becoming a hero, of clipping on a cape and doing what Kara did. All Sam wanted to do following the whole Reign nightmare was get back to her normal life. She wanted to spend her weekdays kicking ass at L-Corp, and every other moment raising her daughter, and during the quiet in between moments she wanted to try and figure out her feelings for Alex Danvers. But then Julia Freeman happened, and Grace Parker, and if there were other worldkillers out there than Sam couldn't just stand on the sidelines. Non did this, he took part in the creation of the worldkillers, and he had been the one planning on using them. This in some weird way had made Sam feel as if defeating the worldkillers and giving their hosts back their lives were all on her. Which is why she agreed to allow Lena and Winn to make her a super suit as long as they understood she was not a Super. Nothing against Kara or Clark, but that just wasn't who she was. The suit that Lena handed her was a full body suit, black along the sides and half way down the arms and legs, white over the shoulders, chest, and down her core. Her cape was white, because apparently she had to have a cape because aerodynamics, and not just because Kara liked capes. But the biggest difference between her suit and Kara's wasn't just the color scheme but the fact that Sam's suit didn't have a symbol on it, just a big open white space on her chest.

"Well this is weird." Winn said from where he sat at his bank of computers.

"I hate when you say that." Alex grumbled as she walked over to stand behind Winn. "What's weird?"

"Well," Winn began to explain. "We've been monitoring the planet for any readings that could possibly be coming from Black K."

"Wait." Kara said as she closed the distance between where she'd been standing with Lena to where Winn and Alex were. "Black K?"

Winn nodded as he turned to look up at her. "Black Kryptonite. That's what we've been calling the Harun-El."

Sam watched Kara shutter slightly at the mention of kryptonite while she held back her own shutter at the mention of the rock that triggered the worldkiller virus in it's hosts. Pushing off the wall she'd been leaning against she moved across the room to join the others, choosing to stand beside Alex. "What about the Harun-El? I thought we got the last of it on Earth."

"We did." Winn replied. "Or, at leas, as far as we know we did. The sensor sweep hasn't picked it up on Earth, it's detecting it in outer space. In, like, deep space. I'm not even sure how it's doing that."

"Oh." Lena said softly. "That might be my fault. While Querl and I were working on the Legion ship we also upgraded the satellite relay system so you'll have more forewarning when things are approaching the Sol System. I meant to test it's range but things have been a little hectic around here."

"How far out is the signal Winn?" Kara asked.

Winn tapped at his keyboard for a few seconds and said, "About five light years or so, give or take."

"Is it coming anywhere near Earth?" Alex asked next.

Lena was the one now tapping away at keys and the one to answer. "It doesn't seem to be. The radiation frequency we use to track it seems to be coming from a huge asteroid of some kind. "

"Still," Sam cut in. "That looks like a huge deposit. We can't just allow it to roam space like that. Non didn't just have his eyes on Krypton, he was out to rule as many worlds as possible. Who's to say he didn't seed other plants with worldkillers."

Winn didn't bother to hide his shiver. "That's an unpleasant and rather terrifying thought."

"I agree with Sam." J'onn said as he approached the group. "We need to retrieve that deposit of Black K and bring it back here to be destroyed." Lena opened her mouth to say something and J'onn cut her off. "I'm still not sure about studying it, Ms. Luthor."

"I'll go get it." Kara volunteered quickly. "It would be safest for me to travel that far out into space."

"Maybe not." Alex said worriedly. "That far away from the Earth's sun, you could deplete the reserves of yellow sun radiation in your cells."

"She wouldn't be powerless if she used my Mother's ring." Sam said after a moment of thought.

Lena nodded. "Better yet, you use Astra's Legion ring and Kara can use the one Mon-El left behind for Andrew."

Alex nodded her agreement to that idea. "It would be better if Kara had someone with her."

"You can use my ship to get there." J'onn said as he reached into the pocket of his uniform pants and held the keys out towards Sam. "As long as Sam drives."

Kara's eyes went wide and she gaped as if insulted. "Seriously?! Sam's never driven a space car before! And I'm a good driver!"

"You nearly killed us going to see Mom because of a squirrel, Kara." Alex teased her baby sister.

Kara pouted. "There are no squirrels in space, Alex!"

A lot of weird things had happened to Sam since moving to National City to help one of her closest and oldest friends run her company. She'd been turned into a homicidal monster. She discovered she was actually an alien in disguise her whole life. She found out that the adorkably sweet woman her best friend was mad crushing on was also an alien, and Supergirl, and her cousin of all things. She'd gotten to meet her alien birth mother who was a reformed terrorist who now lived in the thirty-first century. And now she was apparently going to drive a baby blue classic car into deep space to retrieve a rock from her long dead home planet that could turn other people into the same kind of homicidal monster she'd been turned into.

"What is my life?" Sam asked as she tried to sort it all out in her head.

"You ok, Mom?" Ruby asked with concern.

Sam smiled as reassuringly as she could at her little girl. What the hell was she even thinking? She was about to go off into space like she wasn't a single mother who'd just spent the better part of a year away from her daughter in one form or another. "Yeah, Rubes, I'm fine."

"This is so cool!" Ruby said excitedly. "You're going into space!"

"Cool. Right. Yeap, that's what this is." Sam replied with a chuckle.

Ruby reached out and took her mother's hands into her own. "Are you scared?"

"Yes." Sam admitted.

"It'll be ok." Ruby said with such confidence. "You'll be with Supergirl."

Finding out Kara was Supergirl hadn't dimmed Ruby's admiration for her hero it had only made it stronger. "And we'll be back as soon as we can." Sam promised as she pulled Ruby close for a hug. She held her little girl tight and kissed the top of her head. "You be good for Alex, hear me?"

"I will." Ruby promised and then pulled back a little to look up at her mother with a beaming smile. "Have fun in space, Mom!"

Sam laughed, held her little girl a little longer and then walked over to speak to Alex before joining Kara and J'onn. They flew to where J'onn kept his car slash spaceship, and along the way he telepathically taught Sam everything she needed to know to fly the ship.

"It's actually pretty easy." Kara said as they stood beside the baby blue car. "Aunt Astra use to let me fly her skimmer all the time. I know how to fly a ship."

"Didn't you get lost for like twenty-five years?" Sam teased.

"That wasn't my fault!" Kara huffed and then pouted at her cousin.

Sam laughed and then soothed her cousin's hurt ego by saying, "I'm sure I'm going to need all the help I can get, Kara."

It was actually pretty easy. J'onn put in the coordinates of the asteroid and it was just a matter of making sure the ship followed the GPS. "This is so weird." Sam said as she watched the stars streaking past the cockpit windows. "I'm flying through space in a spaceship in space."

Kara smiled as she turned to look at Sam. "It's beautiful isn't it? Peaceful."

"Yeah," Sam agreed. "It's really amazing but still weird."

Kara laughed softly and then turned a bit more serious. "I'm really glad you came with me, Sam. I'm not really sure I could have done this on my own." She turned to look out at the passing stars. "Even after all these years on Earth I still wake up sometimes in a panic because I've dreamt of what it was like when I would wake up in my pod, alone, in the silent nothingness of the Phantom Zone."

Sam watched Kara shiver and reached over to put her hand on Kara's arm. Kara turned to look at her with a grateful smile. Then the control panel beeped. They were slowing down. "I think we're coming up on the asteroid."

When the ship stopped and the view switched from streaking stars to the asteroid the last thing either of them expected was to see a domed city smack dab in the center of it. Kara leaned forward as if to get a better look. "What is that?"

"It looks like a city?" Sam replied. She turned to look at Kara just as Kara turned to look at her. Then both reached into their boots and pulled out the gold and black Legion rings they had brought with them, and slipped them on with a nod to one another. "Think you can land this thing without hitting a space squirrel?"

"You're mean." Kara pouted as she began the landing procalls after engaging the cloak.

"Na." Sam teased. "I'm just the older cousin, it's what we do."

They scanned the city before leaving the ship to locate the rock and of course it was in the middle of the city, because why would it be easy and be on the outskirts. Leaving the cloaked ship the pair carefully made their way towards the city and the closer they got they more oddly familiar Kara found it. It was actually a bit unnerving.

"This way seems the most populated." Sam said after checked the map that her ring projected. "So we go the other way."

"I have the strangest feeling about this place." Kara replied while walking beside her cousin. "I can't explain it but this place seems, I don't know, familiar somehow."

The In-Ze cousins managed to make their way to what appeared to be a park, and a monument in the center of the park. Sam confirmed that the Black K radiation was coming from within the wood and glass structure but Kara was distracted. On either side of the small building were two slabs with writing on them. How was this possible? Why were these slabs covered in Kryptonese? Kara's heart stopped, the air in her lungs refused to come out, as she traced the glyphs with her fingers.

"Kara?" Sam called out when she noticed Kara hadn't followed her up to the door of the small building. Making her way back to the blonde the look on Kara's face sent instant concern through Sam. "Kara, are you ok? What's wrong?"

"It's a memorial." Kara said, her voice soft and horse with rising emotion. "In honor of the souls lost in destruction, may their flames ever burn in Rao's light." Tearing her gaze from the glyphs she looked at Sam and explained. "This is a Kryptonian memorial." Kara turned away from Sam, from the memorial, to look out at the skyline peaking above the treetops of the park. Her breaths were coming in quick bursts as the realization hit her. She knew now why this place had felt so familiar. "Argo."

"Argo?" Sam repeated. "The city? The city on Krypton we're you were born?"

Kara nodded and before she could say anything else the air filled with a familiar hum. Kara moved closer to Sam, standing beside her cousin almost back to back as if prepared to fight. Half a dozen Klex robots surrounded them.

"Identify yourselves." One of the Klex demanded.

"Kara?" Sam questioned. "I have enough power to blast these things."

"Don't." Kara said as she looked at the objects from her past.

"Do not move." The Klex said and then repeated. "Identify yourselves."

Then a voice cut through the trees. "Stand down caretakers."

And Kara couldn't breathe.

Her mind flashed back to the memory of the last time she had heard that voice. The launch pad. "You will do extraordinary things…. I love you Kara."

If Sam hadn't met Astra she would have no idea why Kara was suddenly so shell shocked, why she wasn't breathing or why her heart had spiked to a concerningly fast rate. But she had met her mother, so when Sam's golden hazel eyes set upon the woman approaching them she knew exactly why her cousin was reacting the way she was. "Kara," She said in a whisper. "Is that who I think it is?"

Kara gasped in a way that sounded like it actually hurt. "Mom."

"Kara?" The woman replied as she took the younger woman in, disbelief and hope warring in her dark eyes. "Kara is that truly you?"

The two moved towards each other as if pushing through water but the moment they were close enough to reach for each other they did, pulling each other into a crushing embrace and that's when they knew for sure. That's when Kara's heart knew for sure that this was in fact her mother.

Sam watched quietly as Kara spoke of thinking her mother dead, and how Alura had thought the same of Kara. Her heart squeezed painfully in her chest as she listened to Alura say she'd watched Kara's pod get knocked into the Phantom Zone, because she could only imagine the pain her aunt must have felt, because she knows how utterly devastated she would be if she had watched something like that happen to Ruby. She watched and listened as Kara said if she had known Argo was here, if she had known her mother was alive, she would have come back to her sooner. She watched as the shock of seeing each other again, of holding each other again, morphed into pure unadulterated joy. Sam smiled a soft happy smile, then she watched as Alura caught sight of her over Kara's shoulder, their eyes locking and Alura smiling the way one smiles when meeting their child's friend. Alura had no idea who she truly was.

"And who is this?" Alura asked warmly.

Kara's excitement exploded when she realized what she was about to do. "Oh Mom! You'll never guess who this is!"

Something about the tall, slender, dark haired woman seemed to draw Alura towards her. She tilted her head a bit, just as Kara was known to do when she was puzzled. "Do I know you?" She asked Sam. "You seem familiar to me somehow?"

"Mom." Kara said gently but excitedly. "This is Sam, you've met her before, on the night she was born."

Alura tore her gaze from Sam to look at Kara.

"Non lied." Kara explained. "Aunt Astra's child didn't die the night she was born. He took her, and he lied to you both."

This time it was Alura who gasped in such a way it sounded as if it hurt. She turned to look at Sam again, closing the distance between them. She reached out as if to take Sam's face in her hands but hesitated, her hands trembling, before letting them fall. "That's what's familiar to me. I see her in your face, in your eyes. I can see Astra in you."

Kara inhaled sharply. That was the first time she had heard her mother utter her aunt's name in forever.

"It's very nice to meet you Aunt Alura." Sam said gently to the woman whose eyes shimmered with tears and regrets.

Alura's voice was soft and thick with overwhelming emotion. "It is very nice to see you again Samra."

Alura reassured the guards who had come with her and dismissed them before inviting Kara and Sam to follow her home. They had so much to catch up on and to talk about. Kara told her mother about the worldkillers, about Non, and about the Cult of Reign.

"Do you remember the Cult of Yuda Kal?" Kara asked her mother as the three of them sat in the living room of Alura's home.

"Yes, they also used the name Children of Juru. I sentenced their leader to the Phantom Zone." Alura replied.

"Jindah Kol." Sam said with a nod.

"The Cult of Yuda Kal were the ones Non gave baby Sam too." Kara explained.

"They kept me in status, experimented on me to give me powers on Krypton." Sam picked up. "I was meant to be a weapon, a worldkiller."

Alura swore an old Kryptonian swear that made Kara blush and Sam look at her cousin quizzically.

"Sam was sent in a pod just like me and Kal." Kara told her mother and then she and Sam took turns explaining the rest of Sam's backstory.

When the young women were finish Alura sat motionless as tears rolled down her cheeks. She could not hide the pain and agrish, the regrets she felt, even if she'd tried. They played out in her eyes and ran down her cheeks. Standing abruptly she put some distance between herself, her daughter, and her niece. She covered her mouth with a shaking hand to hold back a sob. When she felt as if she could speak without her voice shaking she turned to face the girls again. "I let her push me away, I allowed Non to widen the divide that formed between us when she thought her child had died. I sentenced my own sister to life on Fort Rozz. Fort Rozz, one of my deepest shames, shadowed only by the loss of my sister, my own doing."

"Mom." Kara said as she sparing to her feet. "Mom it's alright, it's ok. Mom." Kara took her mother's hands in her own and looked into her eyes. "Aunt Astra is alive, and on Earth, kinda. She kind of lives in the thirty-first century, but Mom, she's alive and she's a hero, and she trains young people with powers to be heroes too."

Sam could see it happening before it happened and managed to use superspeed to grab a chair before her aunt crumbled to the floor.

Alura blinked when she suddenly found herself in a chair rather then the floor. "How…"

"My powers are a bit different than Kara's." Sam explained with a shrug. "My cells retain the yellow sun radiation longer than Kara's. Like we said, I was meant to have powers on Krypton, but I don't think they got to finish whatever it was they were trying to do to me."

"I am so sorry, Samra." Alura said as she stood and pulled Sam into a hug. "I am so so very sorry."

"Not your fault." Sam reassured. "This was all on Non."

"Non?" Alura asked as she pulled back from Sam and looked at Kara.

"Dead." Kara answered simply.

"Good." Alura said with such firmness it was a little jarring. "Now." She stepped away a bit, putting space between them all again. "I want to hear more, I want to get to know my daughter, and my niece."

As Kara told Alura about Alex and Lena and Andrew and the Danvers, and Sam told her about Ruby, word was spreading around Argo of the return of the lost daughter of the House of El and her companion. Sam did not wear a sigil so they had no idea who she was, but it was hard to miss the bright red House of El on Kara's supersuit. Alura was showing the girls the plant gifted to Kara on her first birthday by their grandmother when the messenger came. The Council wished to welcome Kara home.

"We need to warn them about the Harun-El and the possibility of there being more worldkillers out there." Kara told her mother. Alura nodded her agreement and arranged the meeting with the Council.

The Council chamber was a large round room with raised platforms where the members stood and in the center of the Council chamber was a smaller lower platform for guests and speakers. Kara and Sam stood on the central platform with Alrua as the rest of the Council began taking their places. Neither Sam nor Kara were paying to much attention to those gathering around them until Jul-Us called them to order and they turned along with Alrua to face him and a woman to his right that caused both of their hearts to stop beating. Somehow they managed to conceal their shock as Alura spoke.

"Fellow members of the Council, today Rao has truly blessed me and my Houses, as he has returned to me not only my only child but also the child of my sister, both thought lost to us through death, but were in fact kept safe in Rao's light." Alura said proudly. "It is with great joy that I present to you Kara Zor-El and Samra In-Ze."

"Esteemed members of the Council thank you for seeing us." Kara said as her mother took her rightful place among the others.

"Kara, welcome home." The woman said with a smile. "You're mother is a pillar of our community and an honorable member of this Council. We rejoice in her happiness of having you returned to her." She paused for a moment before addressing Alura. "We were unaware that Astra In-Ze had been blessed with children."

"Through the cruelest of deceptions the House of Ze was lead to believe the child had perished." Alura explained. "But she too had been sent to Earth where she and Kara were able to find one another."

"I do recall documenting the birth and death of a girl child into the records for the House of Ze. Rao has truly blessed you and yours, Alura." Jul-Us said with an accepting nod.

"Yes." The woman replied. "He has."

It was only after they had returned to the safety of Alura's home that Kara and Sam told Alura about Reign's fortress and the hologram within. "It's her." Sam said firmly. "That woman on the council. It's the dark priestess from the fortress, the one who triggered the worldkiller virus in me, the one who was commanding Reign."

"Selena?" Alura shook her head at first but then looked up and into the eyes of her daughter and niece, and she knew it to be true. "We need to talk to Selena."

But it was to late. Selena was gone, and the message she left behind made it clear that the hologram in Reign's fortress was no copy of the woman's memories, but the woman herself. "It should have been a joyous moment to see you in the flesh, but instead of being filling with joy, I was filled with crushing disappointment. All of my hard work, all those years perfecting our creation, stripped away and left in its place the pathic child of a disgraced general and a fool. My sisters and I will make sure those responsible will pay for what they have done, and then we will finish Reign's work and make Earth habitable for our people."

"She's gone to Earth." Kara said as panic rose from the depths of her soul as the hologram flickered out of existence.. Lena. Andrew. Alex. Ruby. Eliza. J'onn. Winn. James. They were all in danger. She and Sam looked at each and said at the same time, "The ship!"

They rushed to where they had left J'onn's ship and sure enough it was gone. "We have to get back to Earth. Now."

Alura led the girls back to her home and into the basement where Zor had kept his lab. It was the first time she had set foot inside her husband's sanctum since his death, and the first time for Kara since Krypton.

"Father's lab." Kara said a bit breathlessly as she took in the space around her. She had thought her parents dead, but when she saw her mother, held her in her arms again she had been flooded with hope that she would get to do the same with her father. But Zor was dead, and the pain and grief of his loss had hit Kara all over again. "I spent so many afternoons with him here." She said as she ran her hand over his work station before moving to a table to pick up a journal. "He always had this way of making me feel like I was the most important person on Krypton."

"You were." Alura said as she came to stand behind her daughter, putting her hand on Kara's shoulder. "To us, you were the most important person on Krypton or any other world. It's why he worked so hard to make sure you were safe. Why I agreed to send you away."

Kara nodded as she turned to look at her mother, to give her a reassuring smile. She needed Alura to know she didn't blame her or resent her for putting her in that pod, not any more at least. "I have a son now, Dru, I understand why you did what you did. I would do anything to keep him safe."

Alura's smile was bittersweet. "I still can't believe I have a grandson."

Apparently one of Zor's many plans for saving his people had been to construct a transmat portal just like the one Lena had built for Rhea. All they needed to do was fix this one and get them to put the one on Earth back together, but in order to do that they needed to contact Earth. Kara needed to warn them anyway. Selena had been able to use the AI interface in Reign's fortress, so why couldn't Kara use the AI interface in her little room at the DEO.

"Alert." Winn's table said as a popup window appeared on the screen. "Alura AI engaged."

Winn frowned. He knew the only people who were allowed to access the Alura AI were currently off world, busy with important DEO matters, or trying to keep a toddler out of J'onn's stash of Oreos. Heading to Kara's room his frown deeped when he found it empty, and then jumped damn near out of his skin when the AI appeared in front of him. He may or may not have yelped like a little girl but no one, especially Alex, needed to know that. "Nope, creepy, go away."

But the AI wouldn't go away and then it spoke. "Winn. Winn, it's Kara. I need your help."

"Wow." Winn said as he swiped and tapped at his tablet. "You are really really broken. I hope whatever this is is Lena's fault and not mine"

"Winn!" The AI said with a huff. "Get Alex, and Lena, please. The Earth is in danger and I need to warn them! Winn please! There was a city on the asteroid, Argo City, there's where Sam and I are now. Winn, please, It's me, it's Kara, please just go get my sister!"

Winn blinked and then screamed. "ALEX!"

When Alex and Lena arrived they were both confused and edgy. Winn being Winn wasn't completely convinced the hologram was Kara, he couldn't wrap his mind around how this was happening. So Alex gave in when he said they should test her to make sure it was Kara. "Fine." Alex huffed. "What was the name of our dog growing up?"

"We didn't have a dog, Alex." The Hologram huffed in a very Kara like way which was weird coming from the projection of Alura. "I had a black cat named Streaky."

"That's to easy." Winn said.

Lena rolled her eyes and asked, "How did I know you were Supergirl?"

On Argo Kara smiled. "I told you I would protect you as Kara and then Supergirl kept that promise for me. Plus, you once said it was the way I looked you, that I couldn't…"

"Hide the love in your eyes behind that S on your chest." Lena said with a warm smile. "Kara. What's going on? What do you need us to do?"

Kara sighed in relief. "The asteroid with the Harun-El, it's not just an asteroid, it's a giant chunk of Krypton. It's Argo City, it survived, and Alex, my mom is alive. She's here with me and Sam in my dad's lab." Kara paused to let that sink in and then continued. "Alex, the woman from Reign's fortress, she was real, and now she's on her way to Earth." After she told Alex about Selena she turned to Lena. "I need your help, Lena. My dad built a transmat portal but it's not functional. I need you to walk me through the repairs and then I need you to get yours back up and running. It's the only way Sam and I have of getting home."

Lena nodded. "Of course Kara." Lena replied while working on her table. "But first," She paused as the hologram of Alura shifted into a hologram of Supergirl. "You're mother is lovely and I look forward to meeting her but I would rather do this while speaking to you."

"Alex." Kara's hologram said. "It's Sam. Ruby?"

"She's fine, Sam, I promise." Alex replied.

Kara's hologram nodded. "Alex, keep them safe until we get there."

Alex smiled. "Always."

Snatching hold of Winn, Alex pulled him along with her as she left the room and headed for the command center. "I need you to use Lena's fancy new sensors to find J'onn's ship before it reaches Earth. We need time to prepare."

Winn nodded as he whined. "You could have just asked me to come along."

With Kara's blessing Winn and Lena had been working on weapons that would work against Kryptonians. Alex had just enough time to warn everyone and to get them gearing up when Winn reported J'onn's ship was approaching fast. They already had a plan in place for Ruby and Andrew in case something like this happened, so Alex didn't have to worry. She knew Vasquez was already on her way to get them and take them someplace safe.

They weren't sure what the dark kryptonians were going to do, but flying the ship into the building via Supergirl's balcony was a surprising first move. It sent the DEO into chaos as it sent rubble, deris and a few bodies flying. Four women clad in black rodes that bore the sigil of the worldkillers on their chest emerged from the ship and began blasting people and things with heat vision. Alex pulled one of her guns as she growled, "Didn't they teach you how to knock on Krypton!"

"Lena?" Kara said through her hologram. She could see through the holograms point of view, so she saw as the building shook and as Lena braced herself a bit. "What's going on?"

"I don't know." Lena admitted. "My guess is that your guests have arrived. We should hurry and get this thing up and running."

While the others were trashing the place and tossing DEO agents around like ragdolls Selena focused in on Alex. "You." She hissed as her eyes began to glow. "You kept Reign from consuming Samantha Arias, you and that bastard hybrid brat of hers. You will pay for that, you both will!" Turning to Ferla, Selena commanded. "Find the child and bring her to me!"

"You stay the hell away from my kid!" Alex yelled as she fired two kryptonite bullets into Selena while the other one flew off.

Seeing their leader crumple to her knees as the veins in her body flared a bright green enraged the others and they quickly turned their attention to Alex. J'onn managed to engage one of them, but the second fired off her heat vision. Thanks to the shielding Winn had built into her new suit the blast sent Alex flying backwards, but protected her from the deadly beam of energy. In the split second after her back crashed painfully with the floor Alex detected something strange in the air and sizzling pop sound somewhere north of her head. Then she heard the all too familiar hum of heat vision again and prepared herself for a second blast, but it never came. What she got instead was an offered hand to help her up. Alex blinked.

"Did we come at a bad time?" Astra asked as she clasped the young agent's hand and helped pull her to her feet.

Alex blinked again and then said, "No. If I were the type of person to believe in fate, I'd say you came at just the right time."

"Alura.." Selena hissed out as she forced herself to stand. Digging into her shoulder she pulled the second bullet out and dropped it on the floor beside the first. When the woman turned to face her more fully Selena cackled. "No. Not Alura. Astra. Well isn't this a surprise."

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" Astra replied. Though she did not recall the woman's face she knew the sigil she wore on her dark robes and that made her blood boil. "Doesn't matter. You're wearing the mark of the bitches who tried to turn my daughter into a monster. I'm going to kick your ass now and enjoy every second of it."

"Oh I'm not simply a follower, General." Selena taunted. "I am the mother of Reign."

Astra knew what the woman was saying and it pulled a primal scream from her lungs. This was the one who had experimented on Sam, who had turned her into a monster, and for every ouch on pain this bitch had caused Sam she would suffer ten fold.

"Astra wait!" Alex cried out before Astra could engage Selena. "One of them flew off to look for Ruby!"

Astra's eyes went wide and she growled. "I will make you suffer for what you did to my daughter." She warned Selena. "But I will kill you with my bare hands if you hurt my granddaughter."

"I got it!" Kara said excitedly as she sprang to her feet. "Lena! Ours is online!"

"Give me a moment darling." Lena's voice came over the comm. "I'll make the connection in a few minutes and we'll get you and Sam home."

"I'm coming with you." Alura said as she entered the room wearing a red tunic and pants.

"Mom?" Kara replied with a mix of emotion in her eyes. "Are you sure?"

"The Earth is your home, Kara, and the people you love are in danger." Alura replied. "I'm coming with you. Besides, Selena and the others and my responsibility."

Kara nodded, the biggest and brightest smile on her lips despite the situation. When the portal came to life Kara, Sam and Alura stepped through it. What greeted them when they emerged was one of the dark Kryptonians about to attack Lena.

"Vita." Alura called out, gaining the other woman's attention. "Of course you'd be following Selena. You always were a gullible old crone."

"Alura." The woman hissed.

"Get the hell away from my daughter's beloved." Alura said before sucker punching the woman out of the room, and then looked startled by what she'd done. Not so much the punch but the power behind it. "Whoa."

"Yeah, yellow sun." Sam said to her aunt. "Powers."

"Is that what this tingling is?" Alura asked as she shivered a bit.

Sam nodded. "It will fade once you're cells are full."

"Lena are you alright?" Kara asked as she rushed to her girlfriend.

Lena smiled reassuringly. "I'm fine, but the rest of this place isn't. Go."

Kara nodded, stole a kiss, and then flew out of the room. Sam gave a little wave to Lena and then followed, leaving Lena and Alura alone in the room. Alura smiled warmly at the girl. "I very much look forward to getting to know my daughter's beloved, after this is all taken care of."

Lena nodded in understanding. "Follow the sound of Kara's heartbeat."

When they all reached the command center and the heart of the fighting Alex had Vita under a redsun net, but Ayala was bearing down on an agent with her heat vision. Sam flew into her, and the pair went crashing into a wall. Meanwhile Kara landed next to Alex who quickly warned her that Selena had feld and another woman was out looking for Ruby. Kara left immediately and Alura followed. Moments later Sam drug an unconscious Ayala into the room and threw her at Alex's feet. Alex was about to tell her about Ruby when Astra returned, tossing Ferla to the floor beside Ayala.

"Mother?" Sam questioned. "What are you doing here?"

"Crashing the party apparently." Astra replied. She looked around and when she didn't spot Selena she growled. "Where is she?"

"She took off right after you did." Alex replied. "I thought she went after you."

Astra shook her head. "If she had she would have attacked while I was fighting this one or on my way back here."

"Selena's message said she would make the Earth pay for Reign's destruction." Sam told them. "And that she wanted to turn Earth into a new Krypton somehow."

As if on cue the ground began to shake and the sky began to to darken. The three women looked at each other and knew this was Selena. Sam looked at Alex and asked, "Need a lift?"

Alex nodded and three along with J'onn flew out of the DEO.

Kara and Alura had tracked Selena to a cave that led deep underground, and as they approached they watched as she plunged something that looked like a trident into the ground. The earth beneath their feet began to rumble and rocks began to fall from the ceiling. Selena used her power to push the trident further and further into the rock, splitting it. Smoke rose from the cracking earth first and little bubbles of lava. "It has begun." She said with a smirk as she opened her eyes and looked out into the darkness. "You can not stop me now girl of steel. The Earth will fall, and in its place New Krypton will rise, and there will be no place here for the House of El."

Selena attacked but Kara had far more experience than she had with their power sets. With Alura's help it seemed as if Selena were about to be defeated but whatever it was she was doing was magical, and it boosted her abilities. Alura lay on the ground after being thrown into a wall and Selena had Kara in a headlock, choking the life from her. "What joy it will bring me to end the House of El once and for all."

"Ya know, witch." Sam said as she and Astra, and Alex and J'onn stepped out of the shadows. "The House of El isn't the only house who protects this planet, and I'm getting a little tired of being overlooked."

Selena let go of Kara, who collapsed to the floor gasping for air. "You were meant to die." She hissed at Sam. "To wither away until only Reign was left, but you refused to let go, refused to lose yourself in the stillness of the Dark Valley. Why couldn't you just forget!"

"I could never forget my daughter." Sam replied as she and Astra moved in unison to keep Selena between them. "I would never let go of my love for her."

"If only it were just that." Selena moaned. "If it had only been the child I could have had Reign kill her and broken you the way we broke your mother, but no, you had to develop a connection to that worthless human." She glared at Alex before glancing back at Sam. "I will take away everything and everyone you love, and I will start with her!"

Selena turned towards Alex but before she could do anything two beams of heat vision hit her at the same time. One coming from Sam and one from Astra. Selena cried out, and fell to her knees, but that did not deter her. Second the beams stopped, she sucked in a breath and blew, sending Alex and J'onn who'd moved to protect her, sailing through the air and into the far walls.

"Stand down!" Kara yelled as she joined her aunt and cousin as they circled Selena. "You can't win this, Selena!"

The ground shook beneath their feet ever more violently. It was getting harder and harder to keep their balance and duck falling rocks of increasing size. It felt as if the cavern they were in would fall on top of them at any moment, and then, sudden it all stopped. The shaking, the rising heat, the hiss that had come from the bubbling cracks in the ground. "Give up, Selena." Came a voice from behind the three circling the witch. "Your plan has failed, your followers defeated, there is nothing more you can do here."

All focus turned towards the voice and what they found was Alura holding the trident. They all watched as Alura broke it, snapping it in two over her knee. Selena screamed. "No!" Her eyes grew white hot but before she could do anything a heavy redsun net fell on top of her, forcing her to knees and dampening her powers. "No! No!" She struggled. "This isn't over! I swear it! I will bring the Houses of El and Ze to their knees!"

Astra slammed her fists down on the back of Selena's neck, knocking her out cold. "I hate when a villian vows venngage at the end more than I do when they monolog."

A shape gasp filled the cavern and all eyes were again on Alura. "Astra?"

Astra blinked. Surely she was seeing things, the fumes in the cavern or the red sun radiation from the net, or from the kryptonate the DEO had used, was making her see things. "Alura?"

The sisters stood there for several long moments just staring at each other, each of them lost in memories and feelings that had been pushed down to the furthest reaches of their souls to be ignored. What would have been the point? They each thought the other long dead and lost to the other forever. It was Alura who took the first step to close the distance between them. She'd known Astra was alive, Kara and Sam had told her, she just assumed Astra was unreachable. She took another tentative step towards her her twin and began to speak in what kind of sounded like Kryptonian but a jumbled, garbled version.

"Do you still remember?" Alura asked.

Astra's breath hitched and her eyes filled with tears as she responded in the same gibberish version of Kryptonian. "Of course I do." Astra took her first step towards her sister. "Is it truly you?"

"It's me, Azzy." Alura said with a nod.

Sam and Alex stood on either side of Kara as they watched the twins slowly move closer and closer to one another. It was Sam who asked, "What are they saying?"

"I have no idea." Kara admitted. "They have their own language, they used it all the time when I was little."

"Twin speak." Alex added in. "It's common here as well especially with identical twins." Then she looked down at the captured Selena. "We need to get her back to the DEO."

Kara nodded. "Mom. Aunt Astra. We should go."

"Hmm?" Astra replied, unable to look away from Alura as if afraid the woman would disappear if she did so. Then her military trained unrattled mind kicked in. "Yes, of course, little one." Finally tearing her gaze from Alura she looked at the young ones. "Led the way little ones."

Once the dark Kryptonians were secure in red sun lamp cells and clean up was underway there was a moment to breath. Alex made her way to where Kara and Alura stood talking and reported, "Selena and her crew are locked up nice and tight. J'onn is working on getting things settled so you can take them back with you."

"Thank you." Alura replied to the agent. "I can assure you that they will face trail and are properly punished for their actions."

Kara was practically bouncing on the balls of her feet with a huge silly smile on her face. "Mom." She said with such glee. "Mom. This is Alex."

"Oh." Alura said before reaching out to hug Alex. "Your family rescued my daughter, gave her a home here, I am eternally grateful for your kindness."

Alex was caught off guard and returned the woman's embrace a little awkwardly. "Sometimes I think Kara's the one who saved us, so I'm grateful to you as well."

"You're doing it again." Sam said as she stepped up beside her mother. Across the open space and down a level they could see Kara, Alex, and Alura.

"Hmm?" Astra replied as she turned her gaze from her sister to her daughter. "Doing what?"

"Brooding from afar." Sam answered. "You did the same thing when you and I were reunited. You stood up there," She looked at the highest level above them. "And watched instead of joining us. You should really knock that off. Go talk to Alura."

Astra sighed softly. "I'm not really sure what to say. There is a lot of history between your aunt and I, Sam."

"You're both alive, and here, at least for the moment." Sam said. "You have more time ahead of you than you do behind you now. This is another second chance, Mother. You have me back, you have Kara, and now you have Alura if you want her in your life again. Do you?"

"More than anything." Astra replied. "But I fear things between us are far to broken."

"Or maybe the two of you can build something stronger from the broken pieces." Sam encouraged.

Astra smiled softly at her daughter. She reached up to brush at Sam's hair and caress her cheek before taking her daughter's advice. Reigning in her fears and self doubt Astra made her way to Alura. She stood a few feet away, took a deep breath and said softly, "Alura…"

Alura closed the distance between herself and her sister quickly and pulled Astra into her arms. "I'm so happy you're safe and well, Azzy."

Astra was startled to say the least and it took her a few long moments to relax enough to return her sister's embrace. When she did, she held on as if Alura were a lifeline. She closed her eyes against the burning of tears welling in her eyes and took a deep breath, filling her lungs with her sister's familiar scent. "Blessed Rao, I am happy you survived."

Alura stepped back and smiled warmly. "We have a lot to talk about."

"We do." Astra nodded her agreement. "Far more than we have time for at the moment, I fear."

"We have time enough to at least start." Alura said to her sister before turning to her daughter. "Kara, is there a place Astra and I may be alone?"

Kara nodded. "The conference room, it can be sound proofed and the windows frost over so no one can see in."

Astra nodded her approval. "That will do nicely, little one, thank you."

Once they were alone Alura spoke first. "I'm sorry, Astra. I am so sorry about everything that happened. I should have fought harder for you not against you, and I should have never used Kara to trick you, and I should have never sent you to Fort Rozz." Alura hung her head. "I regret everything about Fort Rozz."

"I choose to give into the darkness after losing Samra." Astra said softly. "Rather than seeking out Rao's light, and your embrace, I gave myself over to my pain and grief. I wanted to save Krypton for Kara, for you, but there was also a part of me that wanted to watch the world burn because I was suffering and wanted everyone else to suffer too."

"I choose duty over my own sister." Alura said as she moved to stand by the window. "Instead of fighting for you, I expected you to fight for yourself, and when you choose Non over me…"

"You felt betrayed." Astra nodded her understanding. "As did I when I felt you were choosing the Council and Zor over me."

Turning to face her sister Alura asked, "Do you hate me, Azzy?"

"I did." Astra admitted as she moved closer to her twin. "There wasn't much else for me to do in Fort Rozz but hate. But that Astra is dead." She stood beside her sister and now she turned to look out the window. "Did Kara tell you about what happened here? On Earth?"

Alura nodded. "She said you and Non tried to bring terror to this planet as well, but that you were changing when you were gravely injured in combat."

Astra chuckled at that. "Gravely injured. Under any other sun I would have died. Kara thought I had." Turning to face her sister she continued, "I was given a second chance, Alura, and I have learned not to squander such blessings. When the shock and elation of finding each other alive and well wans a bit I'm sure there will be much for us to hash out, but for now all that matters is cleaning the slate so we can move forward, if that's something you want."

"Of course it is!" Alura said as she grabbed her sister's hands. "What do we need to do, Azzy? How do we begin making things right between us?"

"Forgive." Astra answered. "Asked and given, we start with forgiveness."

Alura nodded her agreement. "Whole heartedly given, sister, and humbly asked for."

"Blessedly given, sister." Astra replied as she pulled Alura into another hug.

When they returned to the others it was Kara who quickly asked, "Is everything alright?"

Astra smiled brightly. There would be much to work on in the future. Her relationship with Alura could not be so simply mended. Sam was right, it would need to be rebuilt. They were not the same women they were all those years ago on their dying planet. They would have to learn about one another all over again. "Everything is fine, little one. At least between my sister and I."

Kara visabally relaxed, sighing softly in relief and lighting up with hope.

With that out of the way it was Sam who asked, "Mother, how did you know we needed you?"

"I didn't." Astra replied. "Brainy and I came for a totally separate reason. I need to ask a couple of favors of you."

"What is it Aunt Astra?" Kara asked.

"It's not safe in our time for Brainy." Astra told them.

Brainy frowned deeply and hung his head a bit. "The Evil One has returned."

"And with him he's brought a virus that is fatal to all techo-organics and AIs." Astra continued. "I brought Brainy here to protect him."

"Of course he can stay here!" Kara said without hesitation.

"And the other favor?" Alex asked.

"Because this virus has disabled a lot of our technology we need someone who's more adapt with older technology." Turning to Winn, Astra asked. "Mr. Schott, would you consider returning with me?"

Winn blinked and looked around as if there might be another Mr. Schott in the room. Then he looked at Astra and pointed at himself. "Me?"

Astra nodded. "Brainy believes you will be a valuable asset to the Legion."

"He does?" Winn squeaked and then shook his head. "No, no, Brainy thinks I'm an idiot."

"I do not." Brainy frowned at Winn. "I have merely pointed out you are not a 12th level intellect."

"Same thing?" Winn asked.

Brainy scoffed. "Hardly."

Winn looked stunned. He looked at each of his friends in turn and then back at Astra. "Can I think about this for a minute?"

Astra nodded. "While I do need to be getting back, the luxury of time travel allows us a little leeway."

"That's good." Sam said with a smile. "Because if Ruby finds out you were here and she didn't get to see her grandmother she's gonna be pissed."

Kara squealed in delight. "Family dinner! Mom still needs to meet Andrew!"

"I would very much like that." Alura said brightly. "I would very much like to spend every moment I can with my family."

"Don't worry Mom." Kara said as she took her mother's hand. "There are gonna be lots and lots of moments now they we're all together again. I promise."


End file.
